Just a Cupcake
by Falcon226
Summary: Jade/Cat. When you're in a relationship, there needs to be mutual trust and responsibility. Beck breaks that trust, and Cat's always been there for Jade. The school play, Merchant of Venice, complicates along the way. Rated for language and situations.
1. I Could

It seems really right. What's with Dan Schneider including all of this subtext in kids' shows? I don't own Victorious or any of his characters, just going off on my own path that I see as logical. I tried to go for in character, but I don't think the characters are very well-developed yet. Maybe that's a good thing for my creative liberties. I think this is a one-shot, but you know how stories go.

It stung. I can admit that. He's like my best friend, and I can't stand it when some new skank works her charm and tempts him. And I don't think I'm reacting how I should be. I should be doing something drastic. I think I should have given him a more stern talking-to and made less empty threats.

Did I only threaten the both of them so that they wouldn't find out?

I sighed and sat on a bench somewhere near the school. Park benches are, apparently by bench regulation, ridiculously uncomfortable and public. I was crying my eyes out, and at least staying silent enough not to draw too much notice. That was not enough, for the one I simultaneously want to be near me and to keep the hell away from me comes.

She was smiling, and I wondered at precisely that moment what the hell she is thinking, carrying one of her trademark red velvet cupcakes and walking towards me. I don't think that she has ever shared those with anyone. There was so much confusion at that moment that I involuntary let out a sob and cried harder. It hurt to cry. I was getting a head-splitting ache on the brain and I was lowered to such a position.

"What do you want?" I said more gruffly than I had intended. Instantly, I feel bad about that and my face falls.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat had this puzzled expression on her face. It only took a moment for me to realize she was just having trouble figuring out whether to sit on my left or right. My right hand was more active at the moment, for whatever reason, so I gestured towards my right. A grin erupted again across her face as she sat down, and I just knew that she was not quite as upset as when she usually said her trademark line.

I asked more gently now, laying a hand on her bare thigh (and wonder why she had to tempt me with such well-fitting shorts at a time like this), "Cat, um…" Well, I could not quite talk nicely to anyone. I didn't want to hurt her with my words, since she is ever so sensitive.

She apparently got the picture. "You looked sad, Jade. I didn't know why, but I saw you run off after Beck hugged Tori. Was he ignoring you? That was not very nice. He is your boyfriend isn't he? I thought he was, but Rex told me he was your boytoy, and I'm kind of confused what that means. But you looked really upset and I still don't know what a boytoy is, but it sounds all couple-y, but Rex isn't very nice to me and he doesn't flirt with me. Is that a good thing? Maybe it's a good thing. Sometimes I-"

"Shh," I said, suppressing a giggle. My face felt hot, for at some point she had involuntarily (maybe?) grasped my hand and started rubbing it. It did not help that she is absolutely adorable when she takes a random tangent and completely changes the direction of the topic. "I was feeling bad. I-" I cut myself out and looked down at her hand again. "Why did you bring me a cupcake? You never share your cupcakes."

Her expression turned thoughtful. "Oh, well, you looked like you needed one. I always feel better when I have a cupcake, and you're a really good person, and I can't stand the thought of you so much more broody and melancholy than usual." She offered the treat to me now, and I accepted it, much to my own surprise. Again she smiled at me, and I must have forgotten Beck and Tori at that point.

"Thank you," I said, placing the cupcake safely on my left. Her eyebrows furrowed, and I sure knew why. I had not said thank you to her- or anyone, really- for at least a year. "You're very sweet, you know. But you should get back to class; I know you don't like to miss Sikowitz's class."

"You don't like to miss him either silly," she said, rubbing circles at the weird webbing junction where my index finger meets my thumb. "And I already took care of that."

I raised an eyebrow in slight alarm. "Cat, what did you do?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Robbie will probably get Rex off of the roof in a couple hours. I hid him really well!"

I gaped at her until she nudged me. "Oh lord… why would you do a thing like that?"

"I told you, didn't I? You looked sad, and I wanted to cheer you up." I was reminded of my sadness, and could not help but look morose again. "Hey!? Hey! No, you are not allowed to be sad when I'm here, Jade."

I was about to say that it is impossible not to feel sad, but then there was this warm tingling on my cheekbone. Cat pulled away, and I realized that she had just kissed me. Without bursting uncharacteristically from joy, I asked, "Why did you do that?"

"Your eyeliner was running," she replied. Almost like an afterthought, she added, "And you're pretty."

I tilted my head towards her more. "I thought you liked Robbie."

Her expression was one of utter disbelief. "When did I ever say I liked Robbie?"

Shrugging, I shifted in my spot awkwardly. "Oh, I don't know! You just always acted like you did, maybe. And Beck said you went to his Grandma's and everything."

"He's a friend. And not a very good one. Sometimes he's really mean, and so is Rex. I can't believe they're best friends. I don't want to spend that much time around him. And anyway, I don't even like boys. Like… like like them. Andre's nice, I suppose."

"You're gay?" I asked, surprised and hopeful.

"Jade, you're very silly. Of course I am. Did I forget to tell you? I forgot to tell you. Omigod, I forgot to tell you!"

Nodding, I replied, "I suppose you did."

A sad expression crossed her face. "I really didn't tell you. Maybe I never thought I should tell you. It's… um…" She tilted her head forward so that her hair made her expression completely inscrutable.

"It's what?" I pressed, rubbing her thigh absently.

"I like it when you do that," she said, muffled through her hair curtain.

I dawned on me then exactly what I was feeling. It was kind of an odd moment to figure out why I was so sad, but I had been hiding so long behind Beck. After brushing her loose hair behind an ear, I leaned in and kissed her on the side of the mouth.

"I like it when you smile at me," I murmured, pulling away nervously.

She did smile, fresh tears shining in the corners of her eyes. "Really?"

"Mm-hm," I said, trying to hide the blush trying to invade my stone-cold cheeks. "I think that's why I'm out here and not doing nasty things to Tori Vega."

"How do you mean?" Cat queried, squirming excitedly in her seat.

I hummed a thoughtful note and turned my head towards the homeless man sleeping across the street. Why? I had no idea. "I'm upset that Beck is kind of cheating on me. But that's because… I trusted him. And he's like my best friend. But, I guess I never loved him as more than a friend, and it got strange when I realized I might, well, like you. But I thought you liked Robbie and I just couldn't take the thought that I might be abnormal. If you could never love me and I could never love Beck, then… all I could do was come out here and feel sorry for myself."

"I could love you," she said in a tone much more vixen-like than I thought was possible of her.

Pointedly, I turned my head back towards her and stared. I saw her eyebrow raise, and then Cat bit her lip… I rationalized that I was extremely turned on by this. It was only natural to lean in at that point. The seconds turned to hours and my often-cold heart swelled. Her full lips were astoundingly more appealing than Beck's. The blush I had been masking colored my cheeks fully as our lips brushed.

I felt her smile, which Beck never did when we were kissing. I never had smiled either. It was contagious. I tilted my head to the right and she tilted her head to the left, and we were both giggling when our noses bumped. We settled on both tilting right and her lips felt amazing and her tongue was snaking out, begging entrance into my mouth. I allowed her in without complaint.

She tasted like frosting. And then I felt frosting on my hand, and I was exceptionally confused until I pulled away, puzzled. "Oh no!"

"It's okay," she said, positively glowing. "It's just a cupcake."

"No, no. You made it for me and now I can't eat it!"

Chuckling, Cat shook her head. "Of course you can still eat it, silly. It has evolved from cupcake to cupmush. Now, watch and learn." Mesmerized, I allowed her to take my frosting-covered left hand and bring it towards her mouth. She sucked on a finger, and it was not quite typically "sexy", as she was licking in a way that might only be described as "cheerful".

"I see," I said, grinning.

"Now," she said after returning me my finger. "You shall finish the cupcake and I shall reveal Rex's super-secret location afterwards."

It made her happy, so I complied.


	2. It's Your Loss

A/N I decided that I was enjoying this story enough to extend it. Do keep in mind that I have a tendency to get distracted, so I will not end chapters with cliffhangers in case I don't finish. The differences between Jade's POV and Cat's POV should be fairly evident. I have not seen the latest episode, so let's just pretend that my canon includes episodes one through four until I can work the last one in. Maybe. Other things, other things... Some of the ideas I have planned for the story are not Teen rated. Never will there be explicit sex or violence, but I may have to up the rating to discuss them. I'm eighteen and some of the stuff I would like to write about is not so innocent. Tell me what you think :) I enjoy the lovely reviews. Criticism is nice too. I have a slightly awkward writing style that needs some fine-tuning and I don't have a beta. / A/N

Cat's POV

I don't really want to have to find Robbie's stupid friend Rex. Don't tell Robbie, but I have a feeling that Rex is a puppet. Maybe he's lonely... Not Rex. Robbie. He should really find somebody to kiss. Just not me. I think he likes me. Jade thought that the two of us were together. Yuck. Boys are icky. Like stale candy. I have to wonder why they even make stale candy anyway. Boys taste like stale candy. Jade tastes really nice, like she brushed her teeth a minute before our lips touch. And it's the good kind of toothpaste, not that yucky stuff that my mom makes me use. The dentist says I have fluoride poisoning or something because I swallowed too much toothpaste as a kid. I have to use this stupid natural paste that's orange-cinnamon-mint flavored. It tastes like the one time I tried mixing breakfast and dessert in a blender. Sometimes I want to throw certain maybe-puppets in the blender.

Jade still says I have to tell them where I put Rex, even if "them" includes Beck. And Tori. I like Tori (not in a kissing way), but she still assisted in the hurting of Jade. I like Beck too. But I can't stand it when people just start stuff. I think it's Beck's fault. He had a responsibility as Jade's boyfriend to be loyal and stuff. Beck hugged Tori in a butt-touchy sort of way. It wasn't just that. All the times they smiled at one another... Everyone says I have no idea what's going on, but I'm not blind. Beck just lost Jade's heart. She's mine now. He broke her trust, and now he's never getting her back. I think she knows that even though I never told her how much I really loved her until right about now, I would never ever cheat on her.

She's smiling at me now as I nuzzle into the crook of her neck, trying to distract her from the obligation to find Rex. I love the noises Jade is making. Everyone thinks she's so "frigid", but she's warm and fuzzy on the inside. I nip at her ear gently and she inhales sharply.

"Cat!" she exclaims. I frown. "The homeless man is watching!"

"Hobo."

"What?"

"Say hobo!"

"Hobo?"

"Yes. He's a hobo. 'Homeless man' is too formal. I don't go around calling you Jade Nomiddlename West, do I?"

She snorts and squeezes my hand. "You know i have a middle name, don't you?"

I shrug and snuggle into her shoulder once more. "You don't really need it..."

Jade pushes me off gently and I feel really not happy. While I pout, she says brusquely, "We have to go back to school. You distracted me momentarily, and as lovely as that moment was, Robbie needs his puppet back."

"Do puppets need middle names?" I ask, wondering how puppets are born.

"No, Cat. They don't. Now come on." She takes my hand and has to drag me back to Hollywood Arts. I can be really stubborn when I want to be, but Jade can be more forward when she wants to be.

We find most of the gang in the front of the building, crawling all over the ground and looking in bushes. I'm pretty sure those bushes are fake. I just have a feeling. It might be the plastic, but I think someone told me once that plastic grows on beaches or something.

"Jade," Beck says in an unhelpfully ambiguous tone, coming towards her.

Oh, heck no. "By the power bested in me by Sikowitz, I forbid you from approaching any closer, mortal!"

Jade groans and mutters, "Why did I let her talk to Sikowitz after he had the bad coconuts...?" I ignore her, for I do not understand what she is referencing.

"What?" is all the guy can muster in response. Heck yeah!

"You lost her."

"No, Cat. She's right here. Now, she's my girlfriend. I-"

I grip her hand and glare in the most intimidating way I can manage. "No she's not. She's my girlfriend."

Tori comes from out of nowhere and laughs. "You didn't have the coconuts too, did you, Cat?"

Jade has been looking down at the floor during the dramatic course of the conversation. Still looking at the ground, she says quietly, "It's over, Beck."

"You left me... for her?" Beck, baffled.

"You left me for her!" Jade, peeved.

"You left her for me?" Tori, pleasantly surprised.

"I left... uh..." Me, lost.

I hold our clasped hands together. "It's your loss, Beck. You try to take more than your lot, the Jabberwocky bites you in the arse."

"Arse?" Tori queries.

"Yes, arse. You see, 'ass' simply references the donkey and is only an insult of mediocre quality. 'Arse' is the real deal, and is far more effective and British-sounding than its strange diminutive euphemism. If you-"

"So you're gay now?" Beck asks both of us.

"But... Oh... Well... I wouldn't say gay-" "What's that supposed to mean? Didn't I tell anybody? I-"

Tori must have gotten frustrated, for she interrupted both of us. "Answer the question!"

"Something like that," Jade says, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. I blush and nod.

Andre pops out from a plastic bush suddenly. This scares the heck out of me and it takes the combined efforts of him and Jade to calm me down. I think that such a traumatic moment will be in my memories forever. Oh. Right! I'm telling a story. So then Andre says, "Anyways... what are you all talking about? Sounded kind of funny from the bushes."

I swear there's crickets chirping. "Don't all talk at once now," Andre says.

Tori takes a deep breath and says, "Beck's into me, Jade saw. Jade left the building. Cat went to go cheer Jade up. They came back a couple. No joke. That's about it."

Andre raises an eyebrow. "Not that there's anything wrong with... you two... Lesbians are cool! N-not to watch. Uh... Cat, I thought you were all into Robbie? He was going on about it last week, am I right?"

I cringe. "It was a stage kiss! Stage kiss! He totally doesn't tell the story right!"

Jade grabs for my hand. "Chill. What story?"

With wonderfully descriptive hand gestures, I explain the whole thing with Robbie and Trina and the submarine. But it wasn't a real submarine. I think. But yeah, Robbie isn't a very good actor if he can't fake kiss somebody.

"Ohhh!" everyone choruses after I'm done. My gesticulations made everything better, I just know it.

"Anyway," says Andre. "Has anybody found Rex yet? Robbie's bawling in the bathroom."

Jade, still holding my hand, leans against me momentarily. I get it after a minute. "Oh! Right! I, um, might have had something to do with that, heh."

"Well, where is he?" Beck asks, accidentally-on-purposely brushing his fingers on Tori's hand.

Jade tilts her head upwards. "Roof. How'd you get him up there, anyway?"

"Um, I don't really remember," I say, frowning. "No, wait. There's stairs to the roof, urm, next to the boiler room."

"Boiler room?" Tori exclaims. "We have a boiler room? I thought those were just in the movies!"

I shake my head. "Nope. We totally have one. It's really smelly, so try to get a sinus infection before we go."

Jade says, "I hope you're joking."

"I was. I don't really joke a lot, though," I say. "Life is a very seriou- Hey! Are you insulting me?" If my own kind-of girlfriend (I don't think we've made it official yet) is being mean, I think I'm going to cry.

"No, no," she says, releasing my hand to rub my back. "I'm s- I'm s-sor- This is going to difficult."

Beck says, "Wow, she really does like you, Cat. You've actually gotten her to half apologize for something fairly insignificant."

"Insignificant? What's that supposed to mean!?" Jade takes my hand again.

Andre groans for whatever reason. "Okay, let's just go to the boiler room before I give up on humanity."

"That's a grim way to look on things," pipes in Tori.

"I've was reading King Lear last night. I don't think I'm going to be happy for a while. OH, CORDELIA!"

"That's a funny name," I say, starting to skip towards the boiler room. "Cordelia... Cordelia Valentine... I think I'll stick with Cat."

Jade gets pulled along for the skipping, and I don't think she is very happy about it. Oh well. I suppose she'll have to get used to it or let go of my hand.


	3. Blow Off Some Steam

A/N Thanks K9GM3 for the crit. It's a lot easier for me to think like Cat because I am that spontaneous and odd. It's true... Looks like Jade's going to be more reluctant to be drawn out again. I can explain chapter one as one of those times of emotion atypical of character because of the situation. She really was that happy. I can say this chapter is going to get a little strange because I enjoy bad puns. And then I'll get back to the drama. 'Cause it's going to get grimmer from here on out. Most of this chapter is sort of the "Master of the House" of the story, if you know _Les Miserables_. I still love comments and criticism, for I am not so in love with the writing of most of this chapter.

Jade's POV

Cat was dragging me down the hall, and I could definitely say it was an unhappy experience. Panicking freshmen that apparently did not know about Rex were freaking out because everyone else was freaking out. I strongly dislike freshmen. They think that just because I was the good girl in that one play- you've never heard of the title; don't bother asking- I'm really sweet and cuddly. Cat is the exception to the strictly-enforced rule. I still don't like it when she drags me places, but I deal because she is herself. I won't change her if she won't change me. If I wanted a girlfriend or a boyfriend that did not drag me places with blind enthusiasm more than the one I have, then I would be in a different position.

I glowered at each freshman in turn as they approached. You would think they would get the picture after the first month post-play. But no! It's like they spawn or something. Disgusting.

If I was a weaker person, I would have turned around to mouth "help me" to Beck, Tori, and Andre. That would have done me no good, anyway. Furthermore, I was not so sure I want to have anything more to do with any of them. Andre didn't do anything, I guess, but he's still Tori's best friend.

"Here! We're here!" Cat announced as we reached our final destination. The door to the boiler room was far from ominous, and the only exciting item of note was its large brass handle. Otherwise, it was a perfectly ordinary door with a cheap metal plaque that said "Boyler Room". I can't believe they even misspelled the name.

"Okay," I said, rolling my eyes. "Now let's get that damn puppet. I haven't seen Robbie since we came back to the school, but I don't want to see him mopey and covered in mucus when we do."

Andre noticed the ladder before I did. I had only noticed the Boyler Room. He clamored up the metal ladder molded into the wall and looked up. The rest of us (save for Cat, who I think was staring at me) followed him with our eyes. Near the top of the ladder (it was a tall ceiling), he stopped. "All right, where's the hole in the ceiling?"

"Um, what?" Cat said, looking away from my chest for just a moment.

"How'd you get up on the roof?" Andre said through gritted teeth.

"Ooh, it's a secret hole. There's an indented thingy-ma-bobber up there. It's blue!"

Andre's expression turned to puzzlement, but he did what she said. "Ah... here!" As we watched from below, Andre pressed the button and a ceiling tile dramatically receded into the others.

"Whoa," Beck said, eyes bulging out of his sockets.

"Why do we have a secret agent ceiling?" Tori asked somewhat rhetorically.

Cat started swinging her arm back and forth with great enthusiasm. Of course, I was attached to her arm. It was a little dizzying, but it's just her. "Well, Mrs. Boyler installed it there!"

"Mrs. Boiler? Now, I know that you think sofas have feelings, but boilers don't have genders," Andre tried to say gently.

"I'unno," said Cat, not quite listening to Andre. "Mrs. Boyler's really nice to me. When I got lost on the first day, she showed me all this neat stuff. Want to meet her?"

"Uh, I'll find Rex. You kids have fun," said Andre, climbing up through the hole.

Tori was obviously trying very hard not to laugh. I glared at her over my shoulder so she would let Cat just have her world. And anyway, we wouldn't have to go back to class. I had to wonder if this was all an elaborate get-out-of-class free card. Sighing, I said, "All right, I guess we can meet her."

"Huzzah!" Cat explained, leading us to the door. "She's awfully temperamental. I don't want her to blow her steam on you guys, so be extra-careful."

It was a little hard to tell whether she was talking about a person, a boiler, or just herself. She tried pulling on the door handle for a moment before I took pity on her and pushed.

"Katherina!" a screechy foreign-ish voice exclaimed.

"For the last time, Mrs. B, my name is Cat like Cathy!" Cat whined. To us, she whispered more loudly than her whinging, "She's Russian!"

"Ja, I am Russian," said Mrs. Boyler in a German accent.

"Anywho," Tori said. "So this isn't the boiler room? As in, there's no boiler?"

"Ant vut do you mean by zat?" screeched Mrs. Boyler. Cat stared off into space.

Tori recoiled into Beck's waiting arms. Man, the guy was good. Even if he was a cheating jerk. "N-nothing. I, oh, never mind."

I could tell this was not going to go well, since Mrs. Boyler seemed like how Cat might end up if she spent a great deal of time in Europe without any knowledge of the native language. I put on my acting hat and did my best to smile. I think it must have looked more like a pained grimace than anything. "It's been lovely to meet you, Mrs. Boyler, but we really must go. Good-bye."

It was my turn to drag Cat away. She did not seem to mind though, and half-skipped out of the room. Beck and Tori were close behind us, and I heard them shut the door.

"That was fun!" said Cat happily. I shrugged ambiguously and released her hand. "I don't think she liked you guys very much, but that's all right. I still like you. At least... I think I still like you." She glanced towards the other two and bit her lip awkwardly.

Andre rounded the corner at that moment with Robbie and Rex. Cat turned her head away. I asked her quietly, "What are you doing?"

"I don't want Robbie to notice me. Pretend I'm not here! Shh!"

"Cat, you have flaming red hair. Of course he can see you," I muttered. "Now, apologize to the boy for taking his ridiculous security blanket."

"It's a puppet."

"Yes, I know. I- Oh never mind," I said impatiently. She was so cute when she was obvious, so I briefly kissed her on the nose and turned to meet the approaching boys.

"I-" Robbie started to say.

"Before you say anything else, yes, I'm going out with Cat. Yes, we're kind of gay. Yes, she stole Pinocchio and hid him on the roof. And no, Rex, you may not watch us make out for your pleasure," I rattled off before the boys got any ideas.

"Aw man," Rex sighed.

"Now that that's out of the way... now what?" said Tori. Everyone shrugged awkwardly. Robbie looked away and withdrew from the conversation.

"School's almost over," mentioned Beck, gesturing to the large and colorful clock.

"Yay!" exclaimed Cat. "Can we just leave now through the roof?"

Andre had to say, "Uh, there wasn't anyway down from where I could see."

"That is true," admitted Cat. "Oh well. We can just stay here until the bell rings?"

I shook my head furiously. Being with Beck and Tori getting all affectionate (they were playing with one another's hair at that point) was more than I could handle. "I don't know what all of you are doing, but I'm leaving. Cat?"

She shrugged. "Okay. My parents won't be home until late anyways."

"See you," said Tori. I tried not to look too offended by her obviously oily niceness.

Cat in tow, I headed to the back exit I knew best. I didn't get very far before I was pushed against a wall and smothered by an exuberant red-head.

"Didn't want to- make them- too jealous," she said between kisses. I cupped her cheeks and pulled her towards me again. It was a while before we came up for air. Possibly the best thing that I have learned at Hollywood Arts is the wonders of nose-breathing. It was evident that Cat, especially as a singer, knew a good bit about the technique. Firstly, I hooked onto her lower lip and sucked. After a moment, she nipped at my top lip feebly, but then let me do my work. She made these cute little noises, and I held her close as we transitioned to open mouths. She still tasted like frosting. Moaning into it, Cat tentatively let her tongue explore. Earlier, kissing had seemed much more urgent, like we had to rush to push our feelings in as heavily as possible. Now, we could take it slowly.

We pulled apart after an indeterminate period of time. Her eyes were slightly hooded over, and she had this blissful smile on her sweet countenance. "So much better than Robbie..." she mumbled.

"Who else have you kissed before?" I asked, quite curious. It felt strange, not knowing these things.

She held up a hand and started ticking off names. "Mommy, my grandma, grampa Auntie Jo, Robbie, and my baby cousin Luke."

I quirked an eyebrow. "I thought you had to be more experienced than that."

"Nope," she said, shaking her head. "You're my first girlfriend ever. I just watch lots of movies."

I tilted my head to the side and ran a hand through her hair. "How long have you know that you liked girls?"

Thoughtfully, she pressed her lips together. "Probably since about seventh grade. Puberty, you know. And then I was in denial for a bit. Mm, I came to terms with it the summer before ninth grade, but I hid it until a month or so ago."

"I can't see you as one in denial," I mused. "Or having to hide. We all accept you as you are."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing, nothing!" I said defensively. "Just, you're uniquely you, and most people don't give you shit about it."

She smiled more sadly and in touch with reality than I had ever seen her. It was jarring. "I don't live at school you know."

"What?"

"Nothing. C'mon. Let's get some candy and go to your house," Cat said brightly.

I couldn't say no, but something felt very off about the conclusion to our conversation. I felt like she was the most open mystery I had ever had to puzzle through. If there was anything she really wanted me to know at that time, I suppose she would have told me. That day was only our first together, and I am capable of patience.


	4. Get A Clue

A/N Apparently I've got a plot plan going with some basic dialogue roughed out. Maybe I'll do an entire chapter in dialogue. That would be strange. I'm a little confused by what some of the reviews mean, but that's okay. They seem positive. So, uh, thanks! Maybe I'm reading them wrong, for I have stressful AP exams starting tomorrow that I am not ready for. Haha, yeah... I might not have another chapter up until Thursday, but I definitely have up to chapter six roughed out. Oh yes, and this is an edit thanks to 2nitewepartay. I thought I had done my research all right. Ah, nope. Whoops.

Cat's POV

I had candy. Of course I am thrilled. Jade keeps shooting these looks at me. She's not very good at conveying expression on her face when she's not acting, but I think they mean something good.

She exhales and says, "Now that you've got your stuff, let's go. I don't remember if we decided... Your place? You said your parents weren't around."

I think about it for less than a second. "Yeah. No."

"What?"

I really don't want to talk about this. Between bites of chocolate, I explain, "I'm not allowed to have friends over."

"Oh," she says with a sigh. "My place it is."

I'd much rather meet her parents than have to deal with my own, but parents are still... old. "Your parents don't mind, do they?"

She shakes her head. "No, they're actually pretty cool. Even if they would have named me Adam if I was a boy... But I guess they'll be a little surprised, since they're used to Beck. They'll come around. I have a gay cousin, and we all love him just the same."

This explanation made me feel wistful. "Yay." I wish my parents were so easy to deal with.

"They'll love you," Jade says, walking us to her car. "Usually, I'm the grumpy black sheep of the family. It might be board game night."

"I love board games!" I say excitedly, hopping in the passenger seat. "Do you have Trivial Pursuit?"

"No. My sister chewed up a lot of the cards when she was little."

"Good! I hate that game!" I really do. I can never keep track of any of the pieces and the questions are really not exciting. I don't understand what they're asking half of the time and the color-coding is only sort of fun to look at.

She nearly puts the car in drive, but then realizes I forgot to put my seatbelt on. It's sweet that she cares; nobody else has ever done something like that for me without scaring me.

"Can you tell me what's up with your parents? It seems like you tense up when I mention them," Jade asks after a while.

Yeah, I really, really would rather just eat my chocolate and enjoy her presence in silence than talk about this. I shifted in my seat. "Um, well, Emmett and Marlee are just awful."

"Emmett and Marlee?"

I nod, even if she can't see me. It's a habit! Don't judge me! "My parents. They insist that I act like an adult at all times, so I haven't been able to call them Mommy and Daddy to their face since I was twelve. I call them Mom and Dad to their face, but it's not the same. I am an affectionate person and do not like such restrictions!"

I can see her growing visibly uncomfortable with what I'm saying. "All right, but that doesn't explain-"

"It took a year and a half of pleading to get them to let me to come to Hollywood Arts. I started early; if I want them to let me do something, I have to get the idea in their minds beforehand." I nervously took a bite of chocolate. The bar was starting to melt a little in the heat of the car, so I figure it is best to let its suffering end without getting too messy on my fingers. "And then there was my hair... they're still pissed about that."

"And I thought breaking curfew got me in deep shit," she says. "I don't know how you stay so effervescent with family like that."

"I can't stand the restraint. I- I hate it," I say, sniffling. "And if my parents found out I liked girls, they'd kill me. They're the ultra-conservative WASP types. But they're Catholic. Would that make them... WASaW? I don't like how that sounds but- Oh, I'm getting side-tracked. Sorry. This is an important conversation. You know, my brother's kind of a mess..." My tears are starting to form, and I can't stand restraint anymore than I'm required to. So I let them fall. "Jade, I couldn't stand it if they told me I'm a disappointment! I- I- I-"

"Shh, Cat, we're here," Jade says, maybe a little uncomfortably. The car pulls into a driveway on a perfectly ordinary lot. Then my eyes cloud over with tears, and she rubs my shoulder slowly. "Don't cry; I'm not trying to be mean, but my dad thinks tears are a sign of weakness. Now, um, it's an acting exercise. You're a, um, a big-time lawyer, and, well, you don't let anybody give you shit. Clear up those eyes before your clients think you're weak!"

I straighten my posture and go straight into character. "Now, Ms. Reinhardt, tell me what you saw at the scene of the crime."

"I saw someone." Jade slips into character too, turning meeker by the moment.

"Someone? Very interesting. Tell me more."

"It was a young woman. About your height with the most anomalous red hair. I'd never seen anyone like her in my life."

"And why is this important? Don't waste my time."

She chews on her lip and looks about as pathetic as she is possible. "I wanted to tell her that she was really pretty, but she was crying. I couldn't see her pretty eyes to tell her how lovely they were."

I break character. "You think my eyes are pretty?"

"No, they're hideous," she says flatly.

"What!?"

"Cat, one day I am going to teach you about the fine art of sarcasm," she says, rolling her eyes and turning to me. "Yes, you have gorgeous eyes. Now kiss me, and then you can meet my parents.

"Okay," I respond, smiling brightly. I swear she almost smiles after I lean in and kiss her lightly on the lips.

I follow her inside, and hear a female voice hollering, "That you, Jade? You got Beck? Tell 'im to wipe his feet on the carpet this time and you can-" The voice materializes itself as a woman that resembles Jade in facial structure, but is... blonde. And a little thicker around the middle. But she is more confused than I was in the situation. "This isn't Beck." And everyone thinks I'm Captain Obvious/Oblivious.

"Hi!" I greet excitedly. "I'm Cat."

Jade puts an arm protectively around my shoulder. "Um... she's my girlfriend."

Jade's mom shakes her head in confusion. "Beck was over here yesterday."

I lean in towards Jade affectionately. "It's a weird story, Mrs. West. So you see, Beck was kinda cheating on Jade with this other girl Tori. Do you know Tori? Prob'ly not. Anyway, I know that she's all mopey and depressed, so I give her a cupcake and then we start kissing and now we're together."

"It's been a long day," Jade concludes. I concur with an enthusiastic nod.

"Well, it's very nice to meet y'all," Mrs. West says, looking at me like I'm Gojira trying to murder innocent Tokyo-ians. I'm not sure whether they're supposed to be called Tokyo-ians, Tokyo-ers, Tokyo-ites, or something else entirely.

"Lorelai! Jewel just calle- Oh, am I interrupting something? Jade, who's this?"

Jade makes a noise at the back of her throat. Yeah, I'm getting sick of the introductory explain thing too. "This is my girlfriend, Cat. Cat, Dad. Dad, Cat."

I don't really know what to do, and I'm thinking about Japan, so I bow. "It's good to meet you. Please don't kill me in the future."

"What?" says Jade's mom.

Jade makes me stand back upright. "She says things like that sometimes. A lot of the time. Uh... She's very sweet."

"I do like candy," I say, feeling very awkward.

"Your sister's at a friend's house and won't be back, but I'd hate to cut board game night,"Mr. West said in a disappointed tone. "Cat? Do you play board games?"

"I love board games!" I respond with zeal. "Which game?"

"Clue," Jade's dad says.

"I love Clue! Jade, can we play Clue?"

"Of course we can play Clue," she says, kissing my cheek.

Mr. and Mrs. Jade's dad and mom share a look that I can totally see. I don't love that look, but it's better than I expect from my parents.

We play a rousing game of Clue. Jade is awesome as Professor Plum, so she totally beat us. Then we played Monopoly, until Jade's dog Frankie walked over the board. It was declared a tie, even though I was clearly winning. I had one of almost every color! Mrs. Jades' mom only had those three light blues and a couple railroads. Silly moms.

I think it went really well. Jade's lap was really warm to sit in, and it was only kind of awkward for her to roll the dice and move the pieces with me in the way. I think I love her. She's so soft and gentle with me, but won't let anyone make her do something she doesn't want to do. I have to admire her for that strength. But it will be a while before I can tell my parents what (nix that- who) I want and how I can't really help it. She drops me off at home after dinner, and Emmett and Marlee aren't even back yet. The kiss good-night has me walking on air until I finally collapse on my bed. I can't remember getting into the house. I don't even care. I'm so, so happy.


	5. Weekiversary

A/N Noteworthy things... Uh, I have an AP English exam tomorrow, but I left my study stuff at my dad's. I must write three essays in two hours, plus multiple choice. Ack. So story time it is. If I make any awful errors in character background (I care more about that than show canon), do tell me. Oh, and warning: next chapter the rating goes up. 'Member, there's no sex scenes, but the rating system requires me to be all age-appropriate. As for the present, this isn't going to be a dialogue-heavy chapter. The next chapter will likely be predominantly dialogue. Okay, you don't ever read these, do you? ON WITH THE STORY!

Jade's POV

The honeymoon period was over. I was ridiculously mushy for that first day with Cat, and steadily less romantic as the week went by. I can't just be that warm for so long. I wanted to be, but I couldn't. I don't know why. Maybe I should have been less... open that first day.

I woke up the morning of our first week's anniversary. This fact would probably not have occurred to me more than a passing, "oh, that's nice". But Cat woke me up in the morning with a week-iversary song. I think she forgot it was a late start day, meaning students get to sleep in an extra hour before heading off to school. I am incapable of napping and falling back asleep after I wake up for some reason, no matter how tired I am. It was a particularly grouchy morning.

She has this way of knowing where I am at all hours. It's a little creepy when you think about it. As soon as I got out of the car, I was ambushed by the Red Blur. I would have grumbled more, but she had brought me coffee (which I had forgotten amidst my morning troubles) and given me a relatively tame kiss on the cheek before skipping off. I watched her go while nursing my coffee. She had sweetened it a little, I could tell. I'm not usually one for sweetened coffee, but it was pleasant.

It's not entirely _her_ that made me grumpier. Partially, I am just a cool-headed person. And the other part are the awful stares were I got, when I'm alone, and when she was with me. The freshmen just whispered when I was around. When I was with Beck, the only stares I got were ones from the intimidated, shocked into submission, and from those jealous of my possession of him. The few one of envy came from that creeper Sinjin and... Robbie. I knew I was going to have to watch out of the latter. The former would not buzz off, so I gave up.

The worst part of that Wednesday was when Robbie actually confronted me about it. There was this weird bold ambiance around him; as he approached, I knew this would not be a pleasant conversation. He came right out and said, "I don't, you know, like what you're doing with Cat."

"It's none of your damn business, Robbie," I said, fighting the urge to use choicer words.

"Well, yeah. Yeah it is! She kissed me, and it was amazing! I don't know what you did to her, but you're like... a witch! Yeah, you're a witch!"

I snorted. "I'm terrified, Jewfro. But really, Cat only will ever see you as a friend. Say it to yourself until it sticks: les-bi-an. You have a better chance of getting with me than her. Now piss off." I stalked away and felt his gaze on my back. Maybe it would have been better to use tact. Oh well, no regrets and all that.

In drama with Sykowitz, I started now sitting up in the front with my wonderfully enthusiastic girlfriend. Every little thing that happened made her eyes pop in eager excitement. That is, except for when Sykowitz went on a Dodgeball frenzy. Cat was his favorite target, and it's probably because she reacted the most to it. Yeah, Tori did too, but Cat freaked out. There was an awful lot of post-dodge cuddling. I can say that I enjoyed that. Sykowitz failed to notice anything anomalous about the new relationship situation. Sometimes you've got to love the teacher that's either totally oblivious or absolutely apathetic to anything unrelated to his craft and craziness.

Beck and Tori were surprisingly okay with everything. If I didn't somewhat dislike Tori and if I hadn't just broken up with Beck, I might have thought they were kind of good together. Tori heavily hinted that she wanted to break down barriers and do a double date. I'm not so sure that sounds exciting. I told her that I wouldn't unless she made it a triple date and have Andre bring Robbie. Completely joking.

I can't believe she's trying to get Andre and Robbie together. I'm pretty sure Robbie's homophobic and my semi-accurate gaydar (I don't know, I'm still working on it) tell me that Andre's probably straight.

"Seriously Tori," I said to her at lunch when Andre and Robbie were (in Tori's words, conveniently) working on extra practice for some project. "Just because two of your friends lean toward the same persuasion doesn't mean the rest of your friends do."

"Do... do do do..." Cat sang absently with obvious jazz stylings. I shot her a look that she deliberately ignored. Oh well.

"You know, I'd just love it if everyone fell together neatly! Like in the movies where everyone in the core group ends up happily ever after with someone we as the audience already know really well!" Tori said, pouting.

Beck shrugged. "Life isn't neat like that. It's weird enough that four out of us are in relationships in the group."

"But not all together," piped in Cat. "That would be icky."

"That goes without saying," I said, mentally willing her to kiss me. If she was really that psychic, she would have gotten the message.

Ah, nope. All she did was lean into my shoulder. Pleasant, but not what I wanted. Apparently, the initiative was up to me. As Beck and Tori lapsed into a more private conversation, I disposed of mine and Cat's garbage and lead her back into the school.

"What? Where are you taking me? Do you want to visit Mrs. Boyler again? She's just down that way!"

"But you remember she doesn't like me. You like me, and dammit, I haven't kissed you since this morning. It's been a tiring day, so just-"

There was this sense of deja vu when she pushed me against the lockers and captured my lips enough for it to hurt a little bit. Cat was a big fan of taking the initiative, and her enthusiasm was infectious. I rested my hands on her narrow waist. She looped her arms about my neck and I pushed her over to the other side, lips still locked. Thank goodness for nose-breathing. She nipped at my lip until it was starting to hurt a little. It was the good sort of hurt, though. I was about to reciprocate, when a voice startled us:

"Hi, Jade. Hi, Beck."

Wow, whoever had such great observational skills... I thought they needed to be shot. Whoever could mistake petite clearly red-headed Cat for a very male dark-haired Beck was idiotic. I turned towards the voice. Trina. Of course.

"You do realize this is Cat," I said flatly.

She shrugged, strolling at a snail's pace. "No, I don't. Now, I'm very busy and am in a hurry. Away with you, underclasspeople!" The two of us watched Trina take her time traveling down the hall, occasionally lifting dramatic arms up to nobody in particular. Cat and I shared a glance. If Cat thought Trina was crazy... something was definitely up with that girl.

"Now where were we?" Cat said, smirking devilishly.

I sighed. "Actually, I think lunch is almost over. See you later?"

"Oh, all right," she said, ending her "right" with a whine. "Happy week-iversary, Jade."

"Ditto," I murmured, kissing her on the forehead.


	6. Of the Pants

A/N EDIT: I am absurdly paranoid; talking about sex isn't bad enough to be M-rated... I am ridiculous this week. AP exams are going relatively well. Once everything's all over, there's a "Literary Film Adaptation Unit" in English where we essentially just watch movies. Thank you reviewing people and readers :) This chapter's a little weird. I'll edit it if anybody thinks anybody is really OOC.

Cat's POV

Two Weeks after G-T-Day (get-together day)

I smile at her, and she looks pained. I can't for the life of me figure out why. "Jade, what's up?" I bounce gently on her head while she just sits pensively.

"It's getting more difficult?"

"Oh... I didn't know it was that time of month," I say. "Do you need a, you know, band-aid?"

"What the hell?"

"Periods stink. And I'm trying to be all nice and polite and use the girl-speak euphemism for pad."

She shakes her head and kind of scowls at me. That does not make me feel super-amazing-awesome, but she's not saying anything offensive. So I deal. "The idiots at school. I thought I could take everything, but I'm getting threats..."

This alarms me. "Threats? Why?"

"You mean... you haven't been getting them?" she says, looking shocked. "I get them, maybe five times a day. Nasty stuff. Someone spray-painted my locker with some words I really don't want to upset you with. Really, nobody's given you shit about us being together?"

I shrug. "Nuh uh. I mean, some people stare at me when I walk down the halls, but they always do that. Robbie says it's 'cause I'm one-of-a-kind."

"I don't think you need Robbie to tell you that," Jade says, rolling her eyes. If she wasn't herself, I think she would be giggling.

* * *

Three Weeks, two days after G-T Day

We're sitting outside on the steps to the school's entrance. It's a breezy day, and I find myself getting a faceful of non-edible hair every few seconds. The color is really starting to make me hungry, and we're not doing anything. School's out for the day.

"Marlee and Emmett won't be home 'til really late," I say. Before speaking, I don't think I had planned this.

"All right," she replies, examining her nails without much enthusiasm.

"As in one in the morning late," I say, weighting my words heavily. I run a finger along her forearm so she shudders.

She appears to enjoy, much to my pleasure. "Uh, yeah. And...?"

My fingers trail slowly up her arm. I take my time before telling her, "I always thought I'd be older."

"What?" Jade says, not on the same path I'm heading down. Yet.

"When I lost my virginity," I say breathlessly, fingers now brushing against the place where her neck molds into shoulder. "What's it feel like?"

"Uh, what?" she asks, turning towards me with her brows furrowed in confusion. "I wouldn't know."

"Oh, nobody believes that," I say, laughing a little.

"It's true!"

"Okay, okay, I believe you." I look down at my bare feet. Did I put on shoes this morning? I don't quite remember. "But you were with Beck for, what, two years?"

"Yes. We had a mutual understanding that did not go below the belt. I'm just as virginal as you are."

"I love you more than caramel apples," I whine.

"B-because you love me more than fruit, I should have sex with you?"

"Yes! Exactly!" I smile; she gets it!

"I'm not ready, Cat," she says, voice starting to turn harsher. "It's not legal, anyway."

"But we're sixteen..."

"Yes, that's the law in like, Ohio. We have to be eighteen."

"Oh, come on. We jay-walk all the time," I press.

She shrugs uncomfortably. "Somehow, I think that's a different sort of thing."

"But I love you," I say frankly.

She looks at me with pained eyes. Her eyes have never showed so much emotion since our first week together. "I love you too, for all your strange ways, but I'm not ready to have sex just yet."

I pout, but know that she's not going to give in. Yet. She said she loved me! "I can still sit in your lap, though. Right?"

"You're not planning on sitting in my pants, are you?"

"I sure hope not."

"Then go right ahead."

"Yay!" I pounce onto her lap and kiss her enthusiastically. She cups my butt and I giggle into the kiss. "Aren't you Miss Chastity Belt?"

"Not in the pants, izzit?" She says, quirking an eyebrow.

"No, not really," I say. "I'm confused."

"Why?"

"Why they call them pants if there's just one of them."

"Of the pants?"

"Yes."

"I hate to admit it, but I have no idea."

I sigh. "All right. I'm going to have to research that when I'm done with you."

"I have the feeling you're going to cut off our time together early to do this."

"You may or may not be right."

"It's a good thing that I'm your ride, then, isn't it? Wouldn't you like to have your license?" She teases with that poker-face of hers.

"Pretty please with maple syrup and gum drops on top can we look it up when we get to your place?"

She sighs. "When you bring the gum drops into it... Leave off the maple, and you've got yourself a deal."

I cheer and plant a sloppy kiss on her mouth. She groans, 'cause I know she hates getting all slobbery. Apparently, that's how Beck used to kiss before she trained him. I just do it to tease her.

* * *

Three Weeks, three days after G-T Day

I can't believe Jade actually agreed to the double date with Tori and Beck. Out of the blue, she just calls them on Saturday and said, "let's do dinner". Well, that's what she tells me, at least. But I am so effing excited, and I literally have nothing to wear! I would have found something in my messy (but amazing) closet eventually, but Marlee has to come in and wreck everything.

"We're thinking of visiting your Auntie Beth tomorrow," Marlee says, watching me have my clothes-hunting expedition.

"Can't," I say sharply. "Busy."

"With what?"

"Going out with friends."

"Like a date?" she says, getting suspicious.

"Mm, Beck and Tori are together, but Jade's going too. It'll be fun. Jade's a really safe driver, don't worry. I'm excited." I'm not lying, so it's just fine.

Her expression softens. "You are sixteen now, Cathy."

"I know," I say, willing her in my head to go away.

"I have some jewelry I was saving until you got a little older, but it's not what I like to wear. Would you like to try it?"

I am a little confused, but she does not seem like a malicious kill-joy. "All right. Th-thanks. Did you get the candy I asked for at the store?" My eyes light up, hopeful.

"No, I'm sorry. It wasn't on sale."

I have learned that even though my family is quite wealthy, Marlee and Emmett are quite stingy with their money. I have nice clothes and decent technology, but that's about it. They won't let me get a job, so I can't buy things for myself. It's so frustrating, dealing with them for every little limitation, I can't stand it.

Marlee leads me to her bedroom and she puts this surprisingly pretty garnet necklace on me. "It... goes with your hair."

I smile. "Thanks, mom." Our dog noses his way into the bedroom at some point and tries to hide under the bed. The two of us laugh as our chubby beagle gets stuck under the too-short bed.

"Poor thing, let's get him out before the poor dog gets hurt," she says, laughing.

Smiling with her for the first time in months, we pull Allie out from underneath the bed and just keep laughing. I almost told her everything, because I can't keep a secret that well. It's hard enough living with the world's most prudish parents 24/7. But then I caught myself. She's not going to understand, especially with that Proposition 8: Protect Marriage flier she's got peeking out from under the bed.

"Thanks for the necklace, Mom," I say, feeling about as bubbly as I usually do at home. "I... I need to find something to wear in my closet for tomorrow. Bye."

I get out of that room as fast I can and don't look back.


	7. I Believe You

A/N Ack, apparently Cat is opposed to the dirty? I've seen all the eps so far, I guess. So let's pretend my canon does... not include her aversion to language. Had some writing blockage for the past few days. Hope this is all right.

Jade's POV

Three weeks, four days after I got together with Cat

I was wearing a dress. It's been a while since I went all out on dressing up. It usually takes me a little while to do my hair, make-up, and wardrobe, but this ensemble took some heavy thinking. I could barely believe that I put such care in my attire. My eyeliner less haphazardly-applied than usual, my hair is in this weird style called a pony pull-through, and did I mention that I was wearing a little black dress?

Ridiculous: that was definitely the word of the day. I could not stop thinking about that word as I picked up first Tori, and then Beck. They each eyed me strangely before getting in the car. It must be the make-up. Dammit, I just wanted to go home and get out of this ridiculous get-up.

I could barely look at Cat when she hopped (literally) into shotgun. I pretty much allowed myself a glance in her direction to make sure her seatbelt was buckled before zooming off in the direction of the restaurant. I actually had no idea what the place we were going to was like. Tori sent me directions earlier, and I memorized them.

We arrived there and evacuated the vehicle. No really, there was a terrifying moth in the car that had Cat screaming bloody murder. Tori joined in because Cat was screaming. Beck immediately followed me out of the car. Our dates apparently thought this a wonderful idea, but the screaming only stopped after a minute or so.

It was with an already shot sense of patience that I noticed that I stuck out. In a bad way.

Beck was in a casual button-down with slightly rumpled jeans. Tori wore close-fitting designer jeans and a sequin-accented top. Cat had on a brightly tye-dyed tunic and leggings. I definitely was the odd (wo)man out in a dress. Apparently, Cat had noticed last.

"You look pretty, Jade. But why are you wearing a dress?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she surveyed my outfit.

"I was in the mood," I replied defensively. Beck and Tori sniggered once, but stopped after I shot them a glare.

"Oh. Okay." Cat accepted, skipping off to the restaurant.

Oh, did I look out of place. We were at a goddamn sports bar without the alcohol. I wanted to burn the dress and just go home, but not necessarily in that order.

Since Cat's mind-frame had already been set on clothes, she blabbered to me about the belt she was wearing. Apparently, it was a really long necklace. The store had not had any good gold belts, so she had (in her words) ingeniously grabbed a necklace in the exact color she was looking for and put it on. It was actually pretty creative of her to think of that, but I did not want to think about clothes.

We were seated at this horrible little table in the corner. And just my luck, I got the corner seat. The walls were not insulated well, so my bare legs were freezing within minutes. Cat noticed my teeth were chattering at some point and urged me to sit closer to her. With a great deal of awkward shifting, we ended up with our seats pushed together and her hand on my lower thigh. The warmth of her hand in contrast to the chill was almost worth the cold.

We ordered, and I ended up getting in- a lapse of good judgment- fish and chips. Now, I love fish and chips, but I have this horrible aversion to tartar sauce. I simply can not stand the smell of that stuff. And I always forget to ask them not to include that damn sauce. It was halfway through the date when I realize my horrible mistake. The idiotic waiter was deliberately ignoring my signals, so I was not in an amazing mood.

And then Beck noticed that Andre and Robbie were at a nearby table, so he called them over. They sidled over and Tori was bouncing up and down in her seat gleefully. I glared at her from across the table, but she didn't notice.

"I'm _so _glad you guys got together like I said! Why don't we make it that triple date I was talking about?"

Even Cat was bewildered by the suggestion. "Tori, can't friends just go out to eat greasy food that probably has been deep-fried and/or reheated together?"

Tori, Beck, Andre, and Robbie all cringed in unison. The idea did not exactly bother me much, since I already knew of it. Cat was just nice and blunt. In terms of personality, that's probably the only place where we overlap.

"No," Robbie said sharply. "I, um, oh, we're just having a single, ya know, dude's night out. It's fun. Very fun. Aren't you having fun, Andre?"

Andre shrugged. "We just got here five minutes ago."

"Yeah, see? We're having fun!"

I sighed and contemplated sticking my face in the appetizer so I wouldn't have to see idiots everywhere.

Robbie sidled up to Cat, which immediately set my suspicions on. "So, Cat... Are you having a good time?"

"Yes! It's been lovely."

He shot me this glance that made my own icy blood chill. "And Jade's been treating you well?"

"Oh yes! She's so sweet!" She snuggled up to me and was positively beaming.

Sweet little me. I did not quite know what to make of Darth Robbie.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Okay. Andre, let's go," Robbie said to Andre, who had been having a gesture-heavy conversation with Beck, accompanied by a hysterically laughing Tori.

"What?"

"Yeah, the, you know, food's coming," Robbie said, looking awkward.

Andre scratched his head. "Say what? Dude, we just got here."

"The _food is coming_," Robbie said with conviction. Andre frowned and went back to his table.

"Well, that was weird," said Tori after they were gone.

I rolled my eyes. "You're telling me. I think somebody's got a crush."

Beck and Tori shared a glance and nodded. Cat didn't get it, of course. Clinging to my arm, she asked, "Who's got a crush? I hope it's not me."

"No, no. It's Robbie. On you," I said gently rubbing her back.

"Ick," she said, scrunching up her face. "Don't worry. I won't run away with him to the Grand Canyon and have babies with him by the most interesting rock formations."

I nodded. "That's all I ask, I suppose." She giggled and kissed me on the lips. I closed my eyes for a few moments and just felt her lips and tongue moving against mine.

Then the waiter apparently tapped Cat on the shoulder and she looked up. "S-sorry, Miss. Did you, uh, want french fries or on-onion rings with, ah, your burger?"

Cat looked thoughtful for a moment. "Surprise me." Cat then ignored him and decided that she was very interested in kissing my neck.

The guy stared at us for a moment before I shooed him away.

Everything went smoothly until Tori and I nearly-simultaneously declared we required the use of the bathroom facilities. Actually, we both just said something like, "Gotta go". I don't know why, but a lot of girls have this weird liking for going to bathrooms together. I'm not a people-person to begin with, but Tori was all excited for this sort of thing. And I really needed to go.

As we were fixing our cosmetics- well, I was throughly washing my hands- Tori suddenly said, "Is it wrong to want to wait to have... sex?"

"Nope," I said simply,

"Oh. Well Beck keeps pressuring me to, and he says you were all into it when you were together... Sorry, if this is uncomfortable."

"He said that we had sex?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, we didn't," I said, feeling really odd. "He was really cool about it when we were together."

Tori looked conflicted. "I don't... I don't know why he would have lied to me like that."

"Uh, let's see," I said sarcastically. "To get in your pants? Must be why he broke up with me."

Tori glared at me through the mirror. "Hey, you broke up with him!"

"He was flirting with you! Heavily!"

"And you and Cat- before breaking up with him!"

"You and Beck, before I broke up with him," I growled.

She took a deep breath. "Okay, okay. Jade, why are we fighting? We don't need to. You're happy with Cat and-"

"She wanted me to have sex with her. I think she's okay with it now," I said suddenly, still running my hands under the sink.

Frowning, Tori turned to the real not-mirror me. I returned her glance. "I'm going to ask him about this."

"I swear I'm telling the truth."

She nodded and turned towards the bathroom door. "I believe you."

The rest of the night was relatively uneventful, save for Cat repeatedly telling me I should wear dresses to school more often and maybe some less black. Ah ha. The farthest I'm going is a little burgundy. On occasion. She will not be getting me in anything vaguely cheerful in appearance.


	8. Unsafe

A/N I feel all weird, for I am applying a bit of psychology into my writing. Heh. Mostly stuff from Carl Rogers. It's not a big deal, besides proving how nerdy I am.

Cat's POV

Three weeks, six days post G-T Day.

I can't remember Monday at all. It went by in a blur, so I have to pretend that I remember. Sunday is clear to me. In my mind's eye, I'm still in Jade's arms, and Tori and Beck look happy and it's all perfect. Except for the part with Robbie. I'm scared. I get the feeling that he's gotten weird over the past month.

The only thing I can remember about yesterday is him telling me that I'm beautiful.

I want to tell somebody. I could tell my parents, but then I would have to tell them everything. I could tell Jade, but she's no good at the heart-to-heart thing. I could tell Tori. I could tell Tori...

It's morning. My mom tells me that I need to wake up, but it's too early! She always wakes me when I'm in the middle of a really good dream. It's one of these mother-daughter bonding experiences that she's read about in books. I loathe these discussions. She doesn't even listen to me, anyway. Usually I just agree with whatever she says.

But today she's ranting about her hard day on the job with "those fruits". Apparently, one of her co-workers is gay. She keeps saying all these nasty things about him and I just burst out with some comment I can't suppress like I usually can.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Why are those people... gay people so, you know, awful?"

"They corrupt the very concept of marriage, Cathy."

This infuriates me to no end. I have to be the perfect daughter, though. I have to. At least, I can't act like I take it so personally. I always have to try so hard to be my mother and father's daughter. "But I don't think they're hurting you or anybody, or anything. Like, they don't have to get married."

"Exactly. They can't love like we can."

It's a stab in the heart to think my own mom would think I can't love someone. I know how much of a joke her marriage with Dad is. "This doesn't make sense. If-"

"Let it go, Cathy."

"But I-"

"Let it go!" And then she looks like she's about to strike me. As much as my mother is undesirable company, she hasn't come close to hitting me since I was a lot younger. We both are horrified by this, and she leaves quickly before anything further can happen.

* * *

It's lunch. Jade has started to tolerate sitting with Tori's crew, even though she can't stand Robbie and Rex. We're eating and it's kind of nice for once. Nobody's yelling at one another and Jade gave me cupcake. Well... it's actually a muffin. But someone told me once that "muffins are just ugly cupcakes". I can't agree with that statement, for a cupcake requires frosting. Still, the bottom of a cupcake is much less tasty than a muffin. I wonder why they don't make muffins with frosting. That would be amazing. I think. I'm eating a lemon poppyseed, and I think the frosting would have to be carefully lemon to work.

Jade gets up to go the bathroom and Andre, Tori, and Beck are engrossed in a conversation about narwhals or something awesome. I'm too busy eating my muffin to talk, though.

Robbie surprises me by taking Jade's empty space. I squeak into my muffin, but the three on the other side of the table don't notice.

"Why aren't you going out with me?" he asks unhappily.

I don't say anything, but stare at him. He's so creepy now.

He puts his hand on my shoulder. "Cat..."

"I don't like boys that way," I say, scootching away from him.

"That's just what you say when you're uncomfortable. I can take it slowly."

I draw myself in. "Robbie, I'm a lesbian. I'm not going through a phase. I love Jade. I can't love you as more than a friend." I neglect to mention that he's not acting like a friend. "So- so don't hurt her. Please. I'm sorry."

His expression twists from creepy to crazy within seconds. Andre is starting to notice across the table and lets Beck and Tori know.

"Hey, hey man. Calm down," Andre says, playing the peacemaker.

Robbie's breath is accelerating in pace. "You're playing hard to get. Aren't you, Cat?"

I shake my head no and stay frozen. Steadfast arms reach under my armpits and pull me up.

"Cat, get inside. Now." Jade's voice behind me is steely and dead-serious. I can only nod and obey. I don't know what to do.

* * *

"He did this yesterday," Tori informs me. "It wasn't as awful last time, but still not good."

We're in the bathroom, and Jade looks like she really does not want to be here. I think she has something against bathrooms.

"I don't remember much of yesterday," I say. "I remember him telling me that I'm beautiful, and then I must have just stopped thinking."

"You did look kind of out of it," admits Tori. She looks at Jade. "What are we going to do about it?"

"We?" Jade says flatly.

"Yes, we," Tori replies stubbornly. Crossing her arms, she says, "Robbie's getting out of hand. Cat is my friend, and I'm not letting this situation get worse if I can help it. Andre and Beck agree. We want to make sure both of you are safe. Like... we could have you on guard duty at all times, hide you in weird classrooms during odd hours."

I stare at my feet. Gosh, way to be victimized, Cat. I feel helpless and just someone to be protected.

"Can't we just tell a teacher or something?" I suggest.

Jade shakes her head. "Not unless you want Mr. and Mrs. Valentine hearing all about us. I'm sorry, but we have to deal with Robbie on our own."

"He's still my friend. Sometimes," I say.

Tori looks very uncomfortable. "Please, just don't interact with him if at all possible. The look in his eyes was freaking terrifying. If Jade hadn't swooped in, I probably would have screamed."

"You did scream," Jade says.

"It was only a little scream."

"That... only everyone outside heard."

I tug on the hem of Jade's shirt. "Can we just get to class? I missed finishing my muffin and will probably explode on you if we don't get out of here now."

I feel like three days have gone by in the span of one.


	9. The Quality of Mercy

A/N I do NOT like my last chapter. It was quite cliche and I could have done a better job with characterization. I haven't gotten a handle on Robbie yet, and I didn't "click" as well when writing for Cat as usual. I really should find a beta... And I've found a way to pull the story together more, so all the characters can actually interact without making weird during-school excuses.

Jade's POV

Four weeks after Cat and I got together:

It was another late start day. I woke up of my own accord (Cat gave up her weekiversary thing when I asked nicely. Sort of nicely.) and went downstairs. My parents were sleepily making fancy cereal. The fruity whorls and flaked corn (off-brands, of course) were being mixed together. It was a uniquely yucky combination. The sugary whorls and the definitely not-sugary flakes taste so odd together. My mother pushed me a bowl, and I joined my sister (a perpetual early riser) at the table to eat.

After politely choking down the cereal mix, I rinsed my dish in the sink (and splattered water everywhere) before going upstairs to wash up. My hair felt really gross and tangled, and I wanted to get the mats out ASAP, but my mother just had to stop me.

"Jade?"

"What!"

"Are y'all still going with that Cat girl?"

"Yes, Mom. She was just over on Friday. And I promise you'll be the first to know if we break up. All right?" I said, trying to end the conversation quickly.

"Well, bring her over for dinner more," Mom said. "I like her. She's got spirit. But don't do anything you'll regret with her."

I rolled my eyes. "Because she's definitely going to knock me up."

"Just be careful."

"I know, I know. We're not doing anything more than I did with Beck. And we already had this talk."

* * *

I drove to school early. It's pretty obvious why. Um, yeah.

I took her back behind the school where's this awesome tree. If we weren't in the middle of the city, it would be that much more beautiful. I may look like the tough-as-nails type, but I'm a sucker for romance. I never tell Cat that it's almost magical when she severely misquotes Shakespeare passages to me. From "frailty, thy name is schoolbell" to "the course of true love never did run smooth without cupcakes with sprinkles on them".

I'm fairly certain that Cat muddles these quotes on purpose, for I have heard her practice for her audition as Portia for Merchant of Venice. She's brilliant. You would think the red hair would detract from her performance as a badass-lady-dressed-as-a-male-lawyer, but it doesn't at all. The quality of mercy is not strained, indeed.

As I fisted my hands in her hair and had a marvelous mouth to mouth experience, I pondered whether or not to audition for Merchant with her. Shakespeare is brilliant, of course, but there are about three female parts in the play. Total. And I knew that Antonio might be gay, and it would be absolutely hilarious if I was cast in the role (no. No it would not be), but I really didn't want to have to play a guy again. The last time that happened, my family could not find me on stage because the make-up and hair crew did such a good job. I love the glory. All right?

She seemed to be echoing my thoughts. "Try out for Jessica," she murmured.

"Jessica? Not Nerissa?" I said. Definitely not my type. Portia is probably the "most" my type out of the cast, but I would never take away Cat's dream Shakespeare role. She had gushed about how much she wanted this role far too often. Jessica always struck me as... naive.

Murmuring some sort of affirmative sound, she brushed her lips against my ear. "It's acting, Jade. The character that's most like you in real life isn't always the one you play best. And Jessica's not a wimp. She did a lot for the sake of love."

"Fuck, maybe I should just see if they'll make Bassanio a chick and tell them it's for the sake of chemistry. I don't even know if I want to try out."

Cat laughed lightly in my ear. "Try out! Please! As Jessica! For me...?"

I groaned. "I hate that you know I'd do anything for you."

"Like Jessica. Now, go learn some lines. The audition is after school." She broke away prematurely and skipped away. I took a deep breath and decided I might as well not stink on stage. It was off to the choir room to get a script.

* * *

"Auditions," I said to Beck, sighing.

"Yup," he replied. "And you're trying out for...?"

"Jessica," I said, knowing he was going to be surprised. "And you? And the others. I haven't heard from them."

"Shylock and Antonio. Tori's reading for Portia and Nerissa. Trina wants to be the Prince of Morocco, and nobody knows quite why."

"Isn't Andre on pit band again?"

Beck nodded. "Yeah. Why the director thought it would be a good idea to set the play to rock music, I am uncertain. We'll see how that goes."

"Right," I said, not quite caring. "And, uh, Robbie?"

"Bassanio," he replied quietly.

"Fuck. Fucking fuck."

* * *

"The cast list was posted early, I heard," I said to Cat when class got out.

"Yay, cast list!" she said immediately, pulling me in the direction of the bulletin board. We scanned it together for the important names:

Shylock- Beck Oliver

Portia- Cat Valentine

Bassanio- Robbie Shapiro

Jessica- Jade West

Prince of Morocco- Trina Vega

Balthazar, u/s Portia- Tori Vega

This was all perfectly understandable, considering that Cat had killed her audition and Tori had... not. It seems like little-miss-perfect Tori had a weakness for anything older than Arthur Miller. That little voice in my head speaking was that jealous one that popped in that first day of school that I really needed to get over.

Cat hugged me eagerly and I tried to smile. But Robbie was still Bassanio, against all better judgment (I blame unfair casting and a lack of talented males) and Cat was in damn serious danger. This was going to be a long five and a half week rehearsal process, I could tell.


	10. Were the World Mine

A/N Okay, I'm going to "subtly" work in some exposition. I have three chapters after this one roughed out, but still no definite end. I won't just ditch the story, though. It will end. Ooh, and my reviewers are so sweet. I figure I should give them some love. HERE, TAKE IT!

Cat's POV

Four weeks, one day post G-T day!

Everyone who didn't have an official rehearsal script (not me) gets a hold of one at this point. Everyone shuffles off to the choir room, where rehearsals are being held for the first week. We don't get the auditorium until Sinjin's weird disco-mania interpretive light dance show is over. I'm sad that we have to miss the performances. Even though Sinjin is to Jade as Robbie is to myself, disco and flashing lights are awesome!

We do the first read-through of the show now. It's not going so well, because Robbie keeps missing his lines and Eli (our Antonio) keeps reading his lines in a dreadful French-ish Italian accent.

Jade taps me on the shoulder during a scene that neither of us are in. I look up, having been engrossed in the play. She gestures in some direction, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. I voice my concerns a little louder than she would prefer, so she clamps a hand on my mouth.

"Robbie's staring at you again."

Tori, nearby, murmurs, "That's just it. They're only stares. He's not doing anything."

"If I stared at somebody else's girlfriend," Jade says with quiet fury, "I would be pissed at myself."

Some random girl I don't know then pipes in hopefully, "Would you have to destroy yourself socially?"

Jade hisses, "Who asked you!"

I put my hand on her back and repeat, "Deep breaths, deep breaths, deep breaths..."

* * *

Trina comes in late during "intermission" and announces loudly that she has arrived. I clap, but nobody else does. She gets a hold of her script and gasps after a moment.

"What?" I say, skipping over to her.

"Morocco... is a guy?" she says, horrified.

Andre, who has been visiting to (as he claims) oversee for musical direction, comes over and says, "Uh, yeah. He's the Prince of Morocco, you know."

Trina sighs. "Oh, well. At least he's important. Besides this one here, which other scenes am I in?"

I grab her script and start flipping through pages. "Mm, just these."

"That's it? THAT'S IT!" she screams at me. I don't like it when Trina gets all yelly, so I back away into Jade's arms.

Tori and Beck have come over by now. Tori asks, "Why did you choose to try out for this part anyway?"

"I borrow a copy of the script from the library- you know you can borrow books there? Any book?- yesterday morning. I open it up, see a character who's pretty much saying they're hot, and memorize a good chunk of the monologue."

"Oh Trina," sighs Tori.

Trina then says seriously, "So what's this Merchant of Venice story about anyway?"

Everyone does a double take. Jade pulls herself out of a gape and says, "You... don't know?"

"Duh. I opened the script yesterday morning. Don't you people listen?"

Beck shakes his head in something that looks like disappointment. Or indigestion. I can't tell. "Okay, uh, so there's this guy who is very depressed-"

Trina interrupts him. "Is it Robbie?"

"No..." Beck says monotonously. "Eli is playing Antonio. Anyway, his friend Bassanio-"

Andre helpfully interjects. "_That's_ Robbie."

"-needs some help wooing this woman Portia-"

I exclaim, "Me! Well, not me. I'm Cat. But it's a play, so we can pretend."

Beck looks irritated. I feel a little bad as he continues. "Yes. Portia is a rich heiress."

Jade kind of gets frustrated with the slow pace. "So her nutcase of a dead father had these three caskets made and-"

"Ew!" exclaims Trina.

Jade glares daggers at Trina. "No. Not ew. The caskets are like boxes, okay? One was gold, one silver, and one lead. There was this riddle, and if a suitor solved the riddle right, they could marry Portia."

"Essentially, whoever wanted to marry Portia because of her instead of her money would be able to get this riddle. He wasn't a nutcase!" I elaborate.

"Right, right, right," Beck says. "So Portia has these suitors, including Morocco. And Bassanio. But he- Bassanio- thinks that he needs to be rich to win Portia's heart. So he borrow money from Antonio-"

Trina cuts in again. "I thought that whoever chose the right box gets Portia?"

Andre says, "Well Bassanio doesn't know that."

Beck affirms, "Right. So Antonio needs to borrow money too. You see, his wealth as a merchant is all out at sea. So Antonio borrows money fro Shylock-"

"That's Beck," I say helpfully. "And Shylock's this mean, bitter Jew that makes Antonio agree to this crazy bond to get money. Like, if Shylock breaks it, he's in deep shiitake mushrooms. As in losing one pound of flesh shiitake. Anyway..."

Jade wants to end this quickly, I can tell. "Antonio can't pay Shylock back. Shylock demands the debt. Oh, and there's these other lovers running around. Lorenzo- a friend of Antonio and company- and Jessica. Yes, I'm Jessica. No more interruptions. All of the girls in the story for Shakespearean logical reasons disguise themselves as men to escape awful situations. Jessica is Shylock's daughter and hates his guts. She steals his jewels and escapes from Venice to Portia's place in Belmont with her lover. Shylock cares more about his jewels than his daughter. In the end, since Antonio has so much trouble paying back his bond on time, Portia posing as a male lawyer finds a loophole in Shylock's bond. If Shylock does not extract_ exactly_ one pound of flesh, then he gets penalized. The lovers all happily go to Belmont and Antonio's probably gay and we hope they live happily ever after."

"The end?" Andre says. "Sort of. You missed a lot of stuff."

"She'd know it if she read the damn play," Jade mutters.

* * *

Rehearsal's over and I have to go home. Jade drops me off and leaves me with a good night kiss. I'm walking on air as I enter my house. My mood breaks when I see Marlee in the living room reading some of her favorite anti-homosexual literature.

"Hi, Mom," I say glumly.

"Hi, Cathy. Come sit in here with me." Marlee's tone is insistent, so I must join her. "Now, I can't believe you're doing that Shakespeare nonsense. This book right here says he was a rampant bisexual. Lord above, the man is tainted!"

"It's just a play," I lie. Shakespeare is wonderful and poetic and he speaks to the present.

"Just do not allow it to corrupt you as it corrupts society," says Marlee vehemently.

She's wrong, I know. The Shakespearean stage allowed for boys and men. For my very part, a boy would have played a woman playing a man. Perfectly acceptable in past society. I'd love to tell Marlee what I feel and what I think, but she won't understand. She doesn't understand anything. Sometimes, I just want to bring Jade home with me and kiss her in front of my parents until they freaking explode. But that would betray my love for Jade, as we're not an exhibition.

_Were the world mine..._


	11. Honestly

A/N Ack, I lost track of my outline I had ready for a few days and I really did not want to have to re-work my plot again. I found it, and I don't quite remember exactly what I intended for little bits. But that's okay. And, uh, some harsher language coming up.

Jade's POV

Four weeks and two days after the initial coupling.

It was not entirely unexpected when Beck approached me after lunch. Cat had eaten a bad burrito (they exist, I tell you) and had been sent to the nurse. I was lingering outside, and it was taking an awfully long time in there. I do not usually spook easily, but I could have sworn Beck had come out of nowhere.

"Oh, uh, hi," I said uncertainly, looking for vanishing powder or something to logically explain the suddenness of arrival.

"Hi, Jade. I need to talk to you. It's very important," he said.

"Well, if you've come all this way to talk to me, it's got to be at least somewhat worthy of my time. And I don't have all day. Tell me what the hell you want to know and leave me alone. Okay?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. Okay. Did you say something to Tori about us?"

I was getting impatient. "What about us? There is no us."

Beck shifted a little in his place. "You know... the sex situation...?"

I gritted my teeth. "Would you have liked me to lie to her? Like you did?"

"It would have been nice, yeah. Just to play along."

"I may admittedly be a manipulative bitch, but only for my own purposes," I said, restraining myself from doing something drastic. "I had nothing to gain by lying to Tori. Now you... you...!" I pointed at him uncertainly.

"What about me?" he replied, voice rising.

"It's just, you! I told you three months into our relationship that I wasn't ready. You asked maybe once or twice afterwards, and you seemed all right with that. Ugh!"

He folded his arms. "Oh, come on. Like you haven't done it with her-" he gestured towards the door. "yet?"

"No, I haven't, as a matter of fact. She's actually cool with it. And unlike Mister I-Compensate-For-My-Deception-With-A-Transparent-Locker, she's fucking honest. Grow a pair and take a lesson from her book!" I snarled at him. "You don't fucking lie to your girlfriend about something like that."

Fuming, I stomped away from the door. Cat would be all right on her own, but I did not want to spend one more minute around that asshole. I could make it up to her later.

* * *

I saw Robbie push Cat against the rehearsal setpiece. At first I was not paying close attention and figured it was part of the scene. Then I snapped into reality and remembered that Bassanio was a good, honest guy who would never do that to Portia. Nobody seemed to notice. I wondered what the hell everyone was doing that could be more urgent than assault. And then I saw the donuts. And there was coffee. Why hadn't anybody told me. I wanted coffee- but no, i was getting distracted!

I leapt off my stool and charged in. "Hey, hands off!" I said, slapping his hand pressing on Cat's shoulder away.

"We were just-"

"You were just nothing!" I yelled, shoving him to the side.

The background noise altered, and realized that people were starting to notice. Robbie looked pitiful, struggling to regain his balance. He was weak; I do not have amazing muscle tone.

A wavery, almost-mystical voice floated in. "All right, monsters, what'd I miss?" Sikowitz stumbled towards us.

Cat, still backed against the setpiece, said reluctantly, "Robbie was getting scary..."

"Uh, more than that. He had her against this wall and had this look in his eye.

Sikowitz looked down at Robbie with a puzzled expression. "In my day, the theater was a cleaner place. I remember at my first audition, I came in late wearing two different shoes 'cause I just went shopping and couldn't decide which one I liked better. And then I was chewing my gum and-"

"Mr. Sikowitz, I thought that was Barbra Streisand's first big audition," said the grounded jewboy himself.

"And that has nothing to do with... anything," added somebody random in the gathering crowd. I glared in their direction, but have no way of knowing of the glare's effectiveness.

"Oh, well.... Right. But we should not do these things to other people. Now, Robbie, why did you do such a thing?"

Robbie mumbled something.

Almost everyone shouted, "WHAT?"

"I wanted her to love me..."

I tapped my foot impatiently. "Tough luck, buddy. She's my girlfriend. Now piss off and leave her alone. For the last time, she doesn't effing want you. She doesn't seem to hate your sorry guts for whatever reason. So if you want to at least remain friends with minimal hard feelings, back off. Dammit!"

He did.

Sikowitz tilted his head to the side. "Oh, you're dating? That's nice." Then he walked away. I have no idea what sort of involvement that guy had with the student-directed, -acted, -produced, and -teched play. But that's Sikowitz.

* * *

I took my mom's earlier suggestion and invited Cat over for dinner. Of course it was wonderful. She was a little more timid than usual. I blame Robbie.

I can't stand half of the people I am supposed to be friends with now. I have always butted heads with Trina, even though we're in different grades. Beck's a lying cheating slimeball. Robbie has never been close with me, but he's gotten on my bad side seventy times too many.

With Cat, I discussed all of this. She felt bad for Robbie. I don't know how she could. I thought she might be more lenient with Beck, but she said she could not stand a liar. I recalled some of the times I have lied or done something dishonest. There are a lot of little things for which I have bent the truth. I want to be a better person and the best girlfiend that Cat could wish for. Lying is not something positive to keep anyway.

_All that gilsters is not gold._

Everyone always screws up that quote. I know I do things wrong all of the time, and try to put up a facade. Maybe I just want to have a reputation sometimes because it makes me feel like I am important. But substance is more significant than appearance. For Cat, I want to be honest and a better person. I do not need to be the one everyone knows by sight if only I am loved for my true self. This must sound terribly cheesy.


	12. What If I Was?

A/N Annnd I lost my outline again. I'm winging this. Ooh, and I've been trying to avoid using Cat's brother since he is unnamed and only implied to be possibly weirder than Cat in canon. I have to use him at some point. And gawd, you don't know how many times I considered including _dreadful _innuendoes but didn't.

Cat's POV

4 weeks, 3 days post G-T Day

I'm sick of home. The leniency of my parents extends to staying out with Jade... before curfew. They've never met her before, but Marlee keeps hinting at it.

"You've spent so much time together; it's only fair we get you to ourselves with her," she chortles, like this is the funniest thing she has ever said.

So Jade's driving to my house now after an exhaustingly long Saturday rehearsal, and I'm clenching my hands in tight fists beside my thighs. She understands how tense I am and doesn't say anything. I'm glad, but still irritable. When she accidentally swerves more than she really should, I yell, "You're not being careful! Be careful!"

And then she barks back, "Let me see you do better!"

This is a dig at my crippling fear of driving myself into a horrible accident. I take it to heart, as she has momentarily intended, and we bicker all the way home.

Emmett's not home yet; the garage is open and only Marlee's car is in the garage. He said he would be there.

Jade parks the car and I don't even move for at least a minute. It's nearly dinnertime, and I'm hungry enough to eat a llama. Not that I'd ever eaten a llama. I don't think I would want to, though. They're like cute furry giraffes.

But anyway, I eventually hear Jade open and slam the car door herself. I remain staring straight ahead like a catatonic. I hear my door open and then she unbuckles my seatbelt. "Come on," she urges with strained patience. I allow her to lead me in through the garage door.

Finally, my head turns in her direction before she can open the interior garage door. "I love you. If something goes wrong, just know that I do."

She sort of quirks a cheekbone (which is as close as she gets to a smile when not that ever-rare ecstatic) and turns the doorknob.

The house is chilling to me. I really do not want to be here. Jade leads me down a hallway, even though she has no idea where she's going. It's like that Brueghel painting, _The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind_. I loathe that painting.

We don't meet my mother first. Au contraire, we're stuck with Charlie, my idiotic bear of a brother. He's nineteen and still in high school because he sleeps in class. And he's not even the smart kind of sleeper in class. If I'm as airheaded as Rex tells me, Charlie is a vacuum head. You know... vacuum... nothing in there...

"Piss off, Cathy," he says to me sleepily.

"Cat... I'm Cat," I say to him, moving closer to Jade.

"That's not what Mom and Dad call you."

"They never asked what I wanted to be called."

"Okay," he says, yawning. It seems to take him a while to think. Without much enthusiasm, Charlie asks Jade, "Who're you and what the hell are you doing in my house?"

"Jade," she replies, as if this explains everything.

Charlie actually seems to take this as an adequate answer. "'Kay. Don't go in my room, Cathy. I'm going out."

"In Marlee's car?"

He shrugs. "Nah, it's not that far to Jarret's. Anyway, just tell Mom I'm cleaning out the shed or somethin'. Kay. Bye."

Charlie lumbers off. Jade gives me a quick kiss on the cheek before he's gone. "Is that your brother?"

"Mm-hm. I think he does drugs at Jarret's. I don't like him and he's kind of a waste of space."

"I can see that," she says, looking down the hall through which he exited.

We're not getting anywhere and Marlee's waiting, so we continue to the kitchen. "Cathy! Jane! Oh, Jane's a lovely name. I was thinking of giving Cathy that as a middle name for a while. Oh..."

"Um, Mom, no... This is Jade," I correct meekly.

She totally is not listening. "Well, girls. What are you waiting for? Sit."

Jade keeps an ambiguous expression as we sit. I don't want to be here. I don't want Jade to be here. I hate this. The conversation is dreadful.

"-And the protest went on for hours. Those fags just don't give up!" Marlee says cheerfully.

I glare at my stuffing. Jade somehow manages to reply intelligently without favoring either side in the debate. I have said nothing at all this whole time, as Jade is surprisingly a very skilled conversationalist.

"So I tell that bull of a dyke that if I ever see her at my workplace again, I would maim her."

I had been taking a particularly large gulp of water, which I spittake.

"Cathy? Are you all right?"

"You don't- you can't just threaten people for being homosexual, Mom."

"Well, yes I can. This is America, a country based on the values of-"

"I don't care about the fundamentalist values that you so cling to," I say daringly.

"Cat..." Jade warns.

Marlee stands up. "I will not be spoken to like that, young lady. Cathy, what has gotten into you?"

I meet her level by standing up. Marlee is only like an inch taller than me. "Oh, so now you want to listen to me, Marlee?"

"I am your mother and will be addressed as such!"

"I'm Cat, and I would really appreciate it if you listened to me!" I said, voice rising. Jade tugged at my hand, but I wrangled out of her grasp.

Marlee's nostrils flared. "All right. I'm listening. What would you like me to hear?"

"I- I..." Faltering, I stepped back and almost knocked over the chair. "What would you say if I wasn't your perfect daughter?"

"You would still be my daughter."

"Yes, but that's not good enough for you. What if I was a 'social deviant' like Charlie?"

"Social deviant?" Jade murmured.

Marlee ignored her. "I would be terribly disappointed in you."

"That's it? That's it! So! Now that that's out of the way, what if I was something else?"

"Something...?"

"Oh, I don't know. Something like gay?"

The silence that came from her was killing me. I just wanted my Mommy to give me a hug and make me feel better, but I wasn't four and naive enough (well, maybe I am sometimes) to believe that would ever happen. My world was not mine to manipulate; the only thing I had were my beliefs and perceptions. And what I perceived... I did not like one bit. The woman in front of me, the one who gave birth to me and said she'd loved me before, had something like furious fire flashing behind dark eyes.

And I noticed this and felt crippling terror.

Those angry eyes came to rest not on myself, but Jade. I could feel her gulp next to me. My own breath caught in my throat, and I was absolutely paralyzed.

With a chilling tone to contrast with those firey eyes, my mother commanded, "Get outof this house."

* * *

I cried for a while. Jade kissed my tear-stained cheeks, which made me even more weepy.

"It's th- th- the end of the world," I stammered through sobs.

Jade definitely rolled her eyes as she brushed uncooperative hair out of my face. "Shh... it's going to be all right. You don't need that bitch around to be happy."

"She's not just a bitch. She's my mom," I sniffed. "As awful as sh- she is... That was my own mother who threw me out. Sometimes she was r-really g-good to me."

"Give it time?" she suggested, sounding a little impatient.

"I c-can't think now. I'm so tired..."

"Well no wonder. You've been crying for two and a half hours. You're going to be sick tonight, which really isn't going to do you any good. Man up."

I groaned. "Don't say that."

"What?"

"'Man up'. It's horribly sexist. I can be a lady and still calm."

"Oh, what would you rather I say? 'Giddy up'?"

"That's animalistic!"

"You don't even know what you're talking about," she said.

"Yeah I do!"

Snorting, she said, "Right. Okay. So when did you stop crying?"

I had not noticed. "I- I did? Yay!"

"Good lord, you're moody," Jade said, rolling her eyes. "Now let's take you back to my house, all right? My parents would be thrilled to take you in for the time being."

I forced a sniffle. "Well, all right. I love you, you know that?"

"Yeah. Yeah I do."

All the way to her home, she held my hand and sang me of the most lesbian songs she could think of. Besides the obvious "Under Your Spell" from Buffy, she went all overdramatic for Madonna, and made up her own. I laughed half the way home, and she did too.


	13. On Regrets

A/N I'm very reluctant to change Jade's past tense (and occasional future tense) to present tense like Cat lapsed into last chapter. I don't think she ever will. As many changes as Jade has experienced throughout the story, I don't think her never-now way of thinking will. This chapter will reflect this idea I have strongly. Thank you again to my kind reviewers, especially (of late) VictoriousIsMyAddiction, who has reviewed my last few chapters. Honestly, I only review when I particularly enjoy a story or feel like I can offer sound constructive criticism. I really appreciate that you guys take time to tell me what you think.

Jade's POV

4 weeks, 5 days after... well, you know...

It was harder than I thought it would be to have to live with Cat. She is not high maintenance in the sense that she needs much pampering, but she can't stand to be alone for more than five minutes. She ended up shacked up in my sister's room because nobody in the house thought it a sound idea to put her in my room. I did sleep with Beck a couple of times in his RV, but it was_ only _spooning. With clothes on! I always had to wonder what the harm was in cuddling. Still, I felt rather wary about Cat and her desires. I was uncertain whether she would think cuddling would lead to more.

My usually not-confrontational father stormed over to the Valentines' on Sunday and demanded Cat's necessities. He claimed that he threatened them with mob connections, but I could never know. All that mattered was that a good deal of my girl's wardrobe and toiletries had been reclaimed.

The one thing she actually complained about (and only to me) was the loss of her dog. I could understand. My dumb dog was often the world to me when I was younger. Before I was so, you know, confidently abrasive, my dog was my best friend. Cat spent a lot of time just looking at Frankie. Everyone in my family told her repeatedly that she could pet her, but she refused, much to Frankie's confusion. Eventually on Sunday afternoon she gave in and cried the whole half an hour she spent with Frankie.

By the time Monday morning rolled around, we had settled into a fast routine. Cat would probably wake up at 5:30 in the morning and take my sister along for the ride. Jewel would throw a pillow at Cat, who would then get the picture. My girlfriend, who is apparently not simply a morning person but an all day person, would make her way towards the bathroom. Because this is Cat I'm talking about, her treads would sound like a herd of raging wildebeests. The whole house (including myself) would be up by the time she got ready approximately half an hour later.

The day had started off like the previous one. I drove her to school and felt her near me bouncing in anticipation of the day to come. I was uncertain whether this anticipation was of the positive or the negative sort. Maybe I was just projecting my own fears onto her. I couldn't know, as I did not ask.

The day passed in a fairly normal matter. Robbie had finally learned to stay away after I threatened to torch his locker. Not that I would ever do such a thing; my power over others is based mainly off of threats and intimidation. It was out of the ordinary for me to lay a hand on Robbie like I had on Friday. Cat had been in immediate danger and I just...

It's like she has me dangling on a string, but I'm happy there, because she needs me.

When I was with Beck, I never felt like I needed to do anything for him. He spoiled me, and that was probably what I liked about him. He was good to me, really. I can see it, now that it has been over a month, that I was such a bitch.

As we sat down for lunch on Monday, I held Cat's hand under the table and she was _beaming _and I was trying really hard not to just kiss her in spite of the unfortunately large bite of leftover pizza I was chewing over. My current state of such unfamiliar happiness I found myself juxtaposing to the past when I caught a glimpse of Beck smiling at Tori's jokes across the table. He had been what I had made him to be, my perfect boyfriend. I could see that it was my own stupid fault that he had gone astray.

And I wondered... Did I regret the one year and eleven months we had together? Cat squeezed my hand to tell me something exciting. I only half-listened, but nodded politely. Regrets... I was always such an angry person. I might never have realized what love really was if... Would I? How the hell could I know if I ever could have loved Beck like I loved Cat if I had been a better person? I felt... bad. No, I did not feel simply "bad". There was... remorse, epiphany, even pangs of pity. But I could not regret that I had found someone that I could care for like they cared from me. To hell with gender roles and popularity. I loved that girl with all that my cold, cold heart could contain.

* * *

After school, my first rehearsal scene ever with Cat was up. I had this awful guy that I barely knew playing my love interest. Apparently we had great chemistry at auditions. Apparently he thought I was "foxy" and wanted in my pants.

Cat was being Portia, the awesome, and doing her schpiel and pervy Lorenzo was eying me in that creepy way of his. Cat noticed, obviously, and completely broke character to inform the guy that Lorenzo should be more of a gentleman and that he should have gone for Prez in the community theater's production of _The Pajama Game_ if he wanted to objectify a woman so. God, at that moment I especially loved my girlfriend and her love for cheesy 50s musicals.

Robbie was keeping his cool the whole time, and I was almost able to forgive him when he begged me to... but then I remembered how horrible he had been last week.

"You should be apologizing to Cat."

"B-but you won't let me near her without a threat to give me 'Seven Variations on a Wedgie'!"

"Exactly."

"What?"

I was losing my patience quickly, just like I always did. "Just stay the fuck away from her!"

"But she's Portia! And I'm Bassanio!"

I sighed dramatically. "All right, outside of the play! And I would think about a worse acting job in favor of my satisfaction. Don't even touch her, scum."

Cat frowned in disapproval, I noticed, but she said nothing.


	14. Do Not Want!

A/N Mrm, nothing much to say besides I'm all in a graduating mood. Short chapter because I'm mentally somewhere else.

Cat's POV

4 weeks and 5 days after G-T DAY!

I can't see what's right and what's wrong anymore. I want to be me, but I want to make everyone else happy. I love Jade. That is a fact, and I figure it's good to keep track of the facts. I used to consider Robbie a friend of mine. That seems to be a fact, but it really is becoming hard to trust my memories anymore.

You think you know someone and then (in Tori's words) they "freaking try to sexually assault you (insert large hand motion)"!

But I don't think that threatening Robbie is necessarily the right answer. I don't really like to think, but know, that I would have been miserable if Jade had rejected me. I hate to think that I'm breaking his heart.

But there's nothing I can do about it. Is there?

* * *

Having occurred 5 weeks after the event that shall certainly be named G-T Day:

It's four in the afternoon and I'm lying all alone in my bed. There's not really anything to do, since my scenes are not being rehearsed today. Well, I can think about how uncomfortable my life has started to become. I guess that's what I'm doing.

Maybe it's not my Mom that I want. What of my dad? It feels like I haven't talked to him in weeks, and I really haven't. The day before Mom expelled me from the premises, I had heard Dad yelling at Charlie. There's no way of knowing what he would have said had I told him. No, I suppose I don't expect that he would have showered me in sparkles and mint-flavored moon pies, but maybe he would have at least understood.

I think this what they call a regret.

Maybe if I wasn't so damn stubborn...

* * *

I hadn't realized I'd slept until 8:30 in the evening until Jade made her own attempt at gently waking me. She wasn't very good at it, clearly, since everything was weirdly coming into focus. I don't take well to abrupt wakings.

Sleepily, I asked her the time and she answered. Then I must have asked her some more questions, but I can't remember. I mostly remember eyebrows. Jade has these lusciously thick eyebrows that Trina keeps telling her she needs to attack with a weed whacker. That's awfully mean, and they look neat and perfect to me. So it's eyebrows that fill are taking up my attention span at this point.

Now I'm fully up. She kisses me on the forehead and offers me a biscuit.

"Really? I can eat this in bed?"

Something resembling a laugh escapes her. "My parents didn't say that you _couldn't _eat in bed."

"I strongly dislike your use of double negatives. Every time you abuse the English language, a muffin top is burnt in the oven."

Jade snorts. "Oh, I'd hate to cause so much suffering to those innocently delicious ugly cupcakes."

"Muffin is definitely the politically-correct term," I say stubbornly.

"Have it your way."

"Was that Burger King or McDonalds? Do they even serve muff-"

She cuts me off. "Now I don't know if you're faking the random tangents or you're just that weird."

"I guess you'll never know," I tease, turning the biscuit around in my hand. It looks pretty good, so I take a bite. Some butter-like substance would have improved the quality of the biscuit, but you can't always get whatever you want.

There's a silent interlude, and I feel... serene with just the two of us in the room. I could swear she's smiling just a little. The expression is so rare upon her face and so genuine, that I feel... safe. Even if Jade can be a bit harsh, I know she's doing a lot of what she does for my sake.

I find myself on my back, she's on top of me, still smiling that calm, confident smile. She leans forward and kisses me gently on the nose. I giggle, and she drags her lips to my own. Her eyes shut, and I take this as my cue to do the same.

My tactile sense heightens, and I can only feel Jade sucking on my lower lip and the central heating system. As soon as I try to make a grab for her upper lip, she pulls back and takes my own upper lip for herself. I laugh a little and my hands accidentally (I think) move up to brush her torso. Feeling devilish, I gently take her breasts in my hands through clothes. She does not move to deny me access, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the moment.

That is until- "WHAT THE HELL?"

Jade loses her cool and essentially collapses on me. I am a Cat sandwich in slight discomfort until she rolls next to me.

"Omigod, like, ew, ew, ew! Do not want! Do not want!" Jewel looks like she wants to wring out her tongue with one of those hardcore laundry wringer-outers.

"Do not want what?" I ask.

"That image in my mind!"

Sitting up, Jade says, "Oh, if you're going to be like that just because we're-"

"It's not that you're girls. Just, uck, I don't like the image in my head of you kissing anybody like _that_. You were never that daring here with, like, Beck."

"Yeah. I was. It just wasn't in your room where I did it," Jade replies with the possible intent of banter.

"Omigod! Don't tell me this!"

I laugh harder than I have in a while. More or less, I feel back to my sparkly exuberant self! It's just what Doctor Jade called for, the rude interruptions of one West sister and her valley girl tendencies. Even I don't speak like that.


	15. Perfect

A/N Blargh. If you don't know who Stanislavski is, look him up. He's kind of hard to explain in five seconds, other than he invented and popularized his System for actors. I appreciate all the reviews I get, and am rather saddened when I don't get any. Just being honest, but I like to know what parts you guys like and dislike so I can make the story better.

Jade's POV

It's four weeks and six days after we got together. Okay?

Tori and the rest didn't know about the living situation, and would not have found out unless that buzzword had been triggered.

"So my mom said..."

"That's so insensitive, Tori!" Cat burst out sobbing.

My expression was probably a little more than frantic. I could not think of something to cover for that outburst. Wasn't it Cat who had wanted to lay low on the news side of things?

Andre, clueless, pat Cat on the shoulder. Of course I flicked his hand off. "There's nothing wrong."

"Right," said Beck, definitely seeming suspicious.

Cat was being quite unhelpful, sobbing and showing emotion. Sometimes, I like to think that everyone would have an easier time if they had permanent poker faces. It's so awful that everyone in the world can get a glimpse of what I'm thinking with just a look. My thoughts are supposed to be mine, ie private. I don't think Cat agrees.

"What's wrong?" asked Tori, all calm and collected. Sometimes I still felt like I need to resent that girl, even if I'm not with Beck anymore. Wrong, I know.

Of course Cat's lack of subtly had escalated into full blown obviousness. "I miss my mommy."

Tori raised an eyebrow. "Okay, uh, you'll see her after school...?"

"God, you're so mean to me!"

I rolled my eyes, even though I knew better. Cat did not deserve this at all, but she was just so much of a spectacle. "She means that her mom did not take so well to our relationship, as expected. Over the weekend, she moved in with me."

Andre made a face. "Uh..."

I leaned towards him and gave him a warning glare. He backed off. "We're not even sleeping in the same room. Idiots jump to conclusions."

Cat started sobbing directly in my shoulder, so I needed to be the good, attentive girlfriend for once. I pushed her chin up towards me and kissed her lips firmly. The support did wonders for her confidence, and she seemed to forget her sorrows for at least the moment as we continued, still close-mouthed. There's few problems loving kisses can't solve. No, actually there a lot of problems that loving kisses can't solve, but they at least lighten the situation. A kiss was not going to make the hurt that Cat was feeling go away, but the love alleviated at least something.

* * *

I had really started to hate rehearsals at this point. Just being with my _wonderful_ romantic interest and Robbie for 3 and half hours made everything better. Luckily for me, I had no rehearsal that Tuesday. Cat did have to go, though, so I was on my own. It felt weird for her not to be attached to my hip, but I don't need a person to define me.

There was this awful script I had to work on for chemistry. One would think that at least science would be normal for a class, but the school in its infinite wisdom had incorporated the arts into each class. It was great for English class, reading aloud books and plays and then discussing them in groups. Social studies worked out well enough, too. In the past two years, I have played Nefertiti, Rutherford B. Hayes, Thomas Jefferson, Sigmund Freud, Mansa Musa, the goddess Athena, and so many others. Once you get to science... things get fuzzy. Presentations based on the compositions of acids were more irritating than educational.

I had procrastinated finishing the script until even Cat came home. Somehow, she had lucked out and gotten the teacher that let students just read from the book with enthusiasm instead of writing scripts. I was in a nasty mood, and was quite snappy.

As she entered my room (without knocking of course), I asked, "What do you want?"

"A... a hug?" Cat said meekly.

"Go away!"

"Okay," she said. I wasn't even looking at her, since my eyes were on my paper, but I heard her sniffling.

* * *

I felt awful all evening about upsetting Cat. Her rehearsal, apparently, had not gone well. In all of her brilliance in becoming Portia, she had taken the lawyer thing to heart. I think Beck was still recovering from the tongue-lashing he got from Stanislavski gone wrong.

Still, I did not step down from my pride long enough to really apologize. I said, "I love you" many times, but I didn't apologize until morning.

* * *

Five weeks, one day after that fateful day:

We were getting fitted for costumes, which is not exactly an exciting experience. I don't see why the costume department kids had to take my measurements for each show. And half the time, they just pulled a bunch of clothes out of the closet that looked like the right color and style and said, "See if this fits." Yeah, no. Half the time nothing fit and they would have to haphazardly alter something that was never meant to fit my body type.

Cat was being fitted for her courtroom lawyer costume, which looked ridiculous with her hair and very feminine demeanor. Make-up and hair sure did a lot of work in the physical transformation.

I was hanging around in a dress that actually fit me quite well, save for some looseness in the waist. The costume girl assigned to me had gotten distracted and left me behind at least half an hour before this point. I was spinning about a little in my spot. Cat had informed me on several occasions that the only real reason to wear a skirt was to twirl around and have it make a pleasing shape about you. I was testing this theory.

"I see you," Cat said while the kid who had been working on her costume went to find some pins.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, having forgotten that other people were around. "I like this dress."

"Me too. It makes you look all... innocent and temptable." Her eyes narrowed mischievously as she made her way towards me. She pressed herself against me and nipped at an earlobe. I did not usually wear earrings, so this was becoming one of Cat's favorite things to do. And I had to admit... it felt something resembling good.

"Ohmigod, who the hell put you in that dress!"

It was the costume girl from half an hour ago. Cat blushed and pulled away from me. I looked around for no good reason. Maybe there was a suspiciously similar costume girl.

"You?" I replied uncertainly.

"No, no I didn't!" Yes you did. "The play takes place in the Medieval times. That is not a medieval dress!" Yes it was. A girl had worn the same dress in an adaptation of King Arthur last year.

"Pray tell, what is a medieval dress?"

The girl pulled a dress out of nowhere. "This is!" The dress was pretty much the same as mine, with slightly more volume in the skirt.

"Oh, I see," said Cat, trying to impress the costume girl. Clearly, she was confused about the costumer's errors.

I closed my eyes and inhaled. "Just... wait until Loren gets back with those pins for Cat before any more judgements are made, okay?"

She nodded and left the room entirely.

"You know," I said. "I'm really starting to hate this show."

Cat gasped. "You can't, though!"

"Not the script, Cat. Shakespeare did just fine. But everyone around here is just infuriating me."

"Even me?"

"No, you're perfect. Even if you're wearing a ridiculous suit and your epidermis is showing."

"Where! Oh- oh. I see. My skin. Okay. I get it."

"You know I love you... even if your breasts are showing through the suit."

Cat laughed. "Well I can't help that. You know you like it." She puffed her chest out and smiled brightly at me.

"Of course I do. Now, where is Loren with those pins of yours?"


	16. Of Soup and Clothes

A/N Time-skipping again. I was sad that nobody reviewed, even if it was less than a day since the last chapter, but I was in the mood... Am I adding too much fluff?

Cat's POV

7 weeks after G-T day!

The ache is starting to go away. I don't need my mommy and daddy anymore. Jade's parents are wonderful and try to be understanding. Sometimes they get all flustered when I make a crash landing on Jade's lap or kiss at her neck or even both at the same time. But I do think they like me.

Jewel... well, I've never had a little sister before. Haven't even had an older sister, or a twin. It would be interesting to have a twin. For now, there's just Charlie, and he's never around unless I don't want him. It's nice having somebody to talk about clothes with, since Jade's fashion sense consists of black... and dark gray... and some more black. And it all looks good on her, but she kind of hates talking about clothes in general anyway. I think Jewel's a little airheaded, though. I mean really. Who brushes their teeth before they eat breakfast _and _afterwards? And sometimes I feel like she doesn't know what I'm talking about. It's so annoying when she gets all mood-swingy too.

Rehearsals are starting to get extra-long and I'm actually spending more time at school than at home. I can't complain when my friends and Jade are around, but there's still Robbie. He still looks at me all freaky-like when Jade's not around and I don't like it.

We're on dinner break. Tori and Trina aren't here today because their parts are kind of... lesser. Oh, I know that's bad to say. "Each actor must play their part", blah blah blah. "There are no small parts", yadda yadda. I just know that I hate it when I have chorus or a one line role (like most of the time, actually) and they forget to block my one "big" scene until two weeks before the show. And then it sucks and people forget that I'm actually in the cast...

I didn't mope like this before. I think I was happier and more optimistic before two weeks ago. Maybe I'm not as over everything as I thought.

So anyway, we're on dinner break, and I'm so glad that Jade can drive us to food places. As fun as it is to walk (no, RUN) to faraway places and get that giggly high when you're almost late back to rehearsal, driving is a lot stabler for time.

Jade's on my lap at the table, which is a little unusual for us, since I'm a little smaller than she is. It doesn't hurt my lap, though, and she's definitely enjoying the nippy little kisses I'm giving her neck between soup- whadda you call them- sips? Ladles? Spoonfuls. Yeah, spoonfuls. I'm trying to distract her from the fact that Robbie is eating with Eli a few tables away, and it's sort of working.

Andre's yammering on about music stuff, and I can only understand when he's talking about normal instruments like piano. But there's these weird medieval instruments in the show, and I'm all confused. Beck totally knows what's going on- Jade says later he's totally faking it- and I've just given up on conversation altogether. It's only soup and Jade.

* * *

7 weeks, two days post G-T day! Sort of. If is it two or three days? Hm...

We accidentally fell asleep on the couch together. She'd pulled her arm around me (it's so cute when she does that, says Tori) and we were watching a really bad movie late at night. The next thing I remember is waking up with her in my arms. I can't see the clock since she's in the way, but I'm pretty comfortable. I can see a window and pretend that a really cute squirrel is sleeping below it, but I get bored quickly.

"Jade?"

"Mm...? Beck?"

I'm feeling really hurt and obviously start to cry. She shifts in her sleep and accidentally elbows me. "Ow! Jade, what was that for?"

"Cat?"

"Yeah, not Beck, or hwo, I mean whoever you'd rather be here!"

She rolls off the couch accidentally and I look at her through teary eyes. Groaning, she sits up and looks around. "I had this weird dream, and Beck was the ice cream man or som- It doesn't matter. What time is it?"

That does not sound like a terribly naughty dream, so I feel better. "Gosh, I dunno. But I feel all yucky and clothed and my breath must be also yucky."

In the dark, I can even see her raise an eyebrow. "You feel clothed? And that is bad?"

I blush and cover my face with my hair. I'm kind of forgetting that it's dark already. "I'm tired! Let me be vain and confused!"

She scoots back toward the couch and shushes me. "You'll wake my parents up. And Jewel. Can't believe that they didn't find us since we have school tomorr-"

"We have school tomorrow?"

"Not so loud! What day is it? Friday? No, maybe we don't."

I groan. "We do have rehearsal at 10:30, though, and I can't get back in my room with your sister sleeping."

"Well, you'll just have to sleep with me," Jade offers nonchalantly.

"Really?" I say, maybe a bit too eagerly.

"Yes, really. But you're going to have to stay clothed. I'm so very sorry if that upsets you."

I twirl my hair and purse my lips. "Do you have to stay clothed as well?"

I think she rolls her eyes. "Just come up to bed."

She gets really upset that my footsteps are so loud as we go upstairs. Apparently her whole family are light sleepers, so she actually makes me _crawl up the stairs._ Nighttime makes her something of a lunatic.

I snuggle into her body and love her heat. I kiss her everywhere I can get to in this position until she chides me to go to sleep, smile in her voice.


	17. Joy

A/N Nada. Trying to take in feedback and utilize it. Yay and thank you! I've got the end in mind now, kids. Not entirely sure about the journey there, but it's in sight.

Jade's POV

7 weeks and 3 days afterwards

I couldn't believe my parents even noticed that Cat slept with me. Jewel did, but she whines about every little touch. It was a very good night's sleep, actually, except for when Cat kicked me awake at eight. It was a very gentle kick, considering her, and it was as good a time as any to wake up. I think she was having night terrors or something, since I'm pretty sure people can't move in their dreams.

That is not an important fact at all. I think I'm starting to turn into her sometimes. Maybe that scares me a little.

The only reason she woke up was because my dog got lonely and it was my day to take him out. Of late, Cat had been accompanying me on our walks. Well, they were less walks and more follow Frankie until he finds a good spot to "go do business", as Jewel likes to coo at him. Usually, Cat woke up so much earlier than 8:30, and I just lay there with her until Frankie pawed at the door.

We walked in silence. It was a strange sort of situation, and I was painfully that she still desperately wanted to have sex with me. I wanted it too, but I felt like I would regret it if I gave in before I was completely ready. Her touch on my skin made me shudder. This may have been because she tended to have ridiculously cold hands compared to the rest of her body at weird times. But I still relished the sensation.

She was touching me again, fingers teasingly brushing against the gap between my tank and shorts. I had not been in the mood to fully get dressed yet, so I was still in full sleepwear. If the neighbors minded, I didn't give a fuck. I brushed her hand away, and I was almost smiling. When she laughed, I felt like thawing that still-cold exterior more, bit by bit.

But I still wasn't ready yet. Something was stopping me.

* * *

7 weeks, 5 days afterwards.

"Robbie, that's not how you wear a- Oh, let me do it," Tori said, obviously frustrated with the boy's incompetence at buttoning. "You shifted the button row by two! How did you manage that?"

"He's gifted like that."

"Jade, that's not very nice," Cat warned, playing Tetris on her cellphone in the corner.

The dressing rooms under the stage were far from luxurious. The make-up and green room upstairs is far cleaner and does not rank of sweat, Axe, and carry-out food. But we would have to deal with these lovely conditions for the real show, and this was our first costumed run. There wouldn't be another one for a while, but the costume changes were looking to be messy and in need of more fine-tuning than usual.

The girls and boys were all crammed in one room with an exterior corridor. Most people just ended up changing in the corridor during the show because that's where the costumes were hung and doors were a nuisance to open under time constraints.

I didn't appear for a while into the show, but was already dressed. On the other hand... "Cat! You can't go onstage like that."

"What?" she said absently.

I rolled my eyes and took her phone away. "You're in the first act and you need to get that ridiculous dress on, put on the ugly wig, and all sorts of other nonsense. No Tetris."

"But... but..." She looked up at me with puppy dog eyes.

Tori hollered from her spot with Robbie, "Don't give it back to her!"

"I know that," I said stubbornly, even though I probably would have given it back. "We can't have a show without you."

"Fine!" she said, sniffling falsely. "If you're going to be like that..."

"Cat, just get your damn costume on!" Tori yelled in Robbie's ear.

"Ow, be gentle! I have respiratory problems, you know. If I-"

"Yeah, don't want to hear about it." Everyone was starting to tolerate Robbie, but I'd never liked the guy. I really did not want to hear about him and his woe-is-me breathing problems.

* * *

It was dinner break again. I wanted fast food, but Cat was in the mood for pizza. So for once, we went our separate ways. However, we did arrive back to school at approximately the same time with about half an hour left to go. We sat against the wall outside the auditorium, mostly quiet.

"How do you love me?"

The question caught me off guard. "Um... I just do."

She pouted at me, and I knew that could not be good enough for her.

I thought really hard about that for a moment. "Hold on, we've got to stand up for this."

"Okay!" Cat said happily, hopping up faster than me.

I took her hands in my own and stared down at them. "_You see me,_ Cat, _where I stand, Such as I am: though for myself alone. I would not be ambitious in my wish, To wish myself much better; yet, for you I would be trebled twenty times myself; A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times more rich; That only to stand high in your account..."_

"Those are my lines!"

"Yes, now hush for a moment while I explain," I said. "I love you because you bring out the best in me. I feel so hard and cold." I clench my hands tighter on hers. "And you make me feel more than I thought I was capable of. I want to, well, be better. Because of you. Because you're beautiful. I love your spirit. And, um, even when you get hyperactive and kick me in your sleep-"

"Oh, did I do that? Sorry!"

"Never mind that. Okay. Right. So... I love it that you care for me. I love that you can see the good in other people, even when it seems so hard. You're nothing like me, but I love being with you." And I was tearing up. People were starting to come by, and dammit, they were watching. "I'm in love with you because it- it's impossible not to."

Tori made this very audible "Aw!" and I would have given her a piece of my mind if Cat had not been so beatific in front of me. I kissed the girl before anybody could ruin the moment.

I think her lips were the ones that curled up with mirth. I think my mouth opened first. I think it was her tongue that took the initiative.

I know that the tears were mine, and they were hers, too. I was so happy that I didn't care if anybody saw me that way: joyful.


	18. Sickeningly Saccharine

A/N Um, as cute as people think they are with fake-out reviews, I am very quick to react and even fake flames make me nearly cry. Especially when it's like ten or eleven at night and I'm tired and easily confused. This would be funny if I was not so sensitive.

Cat's POV

8 weeks post G-T day!

Ah! It's nearly hell week, meaning nearly showtime! I'm freaking out all over the place in anticipation. Jade's mom keeps giving me tea without caffeine, but I'm still not sleeping awesomely. Jewel keeps getting mad when I pace around her room in the middle of the night. I can't really blame her, but I can't help it! It's my first big lead in high school and we're not ready yet!

The costume run-through was less than amazing. I wanted it go perfectly, I really did, but I missed this one costume change when nobody helped me get stuffed into the corset. Really, the techies watched while I squashed my body all alone in the costume. Everyone keeps crashing into each other. Robbie and Eli ran into each other once backstage, and it kind of looked like they kissed. They swear they just bumped noses, and I kind of have to believe them. They're noses looked all yucky and swollen. And I might have kind of sort of nearly did kick Robbie in the same general face area with my character shoe.

I apologized. It wasn't enough. We're all overtired.

1There's a bunch of math homework that I'm kind of making up right before rehearsal starts. Like I have time to go through synthetic division? I have the most lines in the whole show! Trina has more than Jade, actually, but Jade gets more scenes and interesting plot. It definitely shows, since Trina keeps mangling the lines. I think it's sweet when Jade and I (well, mostly me) mangle Shakespeare lines for our purposes. It's really mean of me to say, but I'll quote what Jade told me today: "She sounds like she translated the lines on babelfish into Apanish, then into Japanese, into Spanish again, and back into American. Not even English." I have to agree.

We're not running through with costumes today, so it's all right. We are starting doing the last act first, though, since that's the one we tend to miss when we run out of time. It's all very confusing.

Jade seems to be okay with us napping together now. The clothes still don't come off, but we've stared sneaking up to the stage manager's booth during dinner break and cuddling on the couch with a phone alarm on. She's so warm, with her arms around mine or mine around hers. I don't even care. I love how she feels nearby.

It seems that she's this harsh other-person with everyone else and she's all mine when we're alone.

* * *

8 weeks, 1 day post G-T day!

"I'm sick of pizza!"

"But we don't have enough money to get anything else!"

"And whose fault is that, Tori?"

"Calm down, everyone!"

"Guys," Andre says in that cool and confident voice he has. "We only have half an hour for dinner break, all right? We're not going to waste it arguing. We'll vote. Quickly. Options are pizza, Maccas-"

Jade: "Maccas?"

"McDonald's. Sorry. And the sub place. All right, Pizza? Maccas- yes I'm calling it that. Subs? Maccas it is."

"Huzzah! Food!" I cheer, skipping out to Jade's car and shotgunning my spot.

It's a mad scramble to figure out the seating arrangements and rush everyone over to the fast food establishment. Robbie takes forever to order last because of his allergies, so I take the opportunity to show Jade my passions for her by the soft drink machine. Our snog is rudely interrupted by an, "Excuse me."

I look up. It's my daddy. Jade's eyes show no recognition, but mine have got to be big as saucers. I haven't seen him in weeks, and he's looking at me, stunned. Of course I know what he's thinking. The silence is so loud because the restaurant's walls bounce sounds everywhere and it's fairly crowded. But still. It's deafening and dramatic.

I break the moment first when I push Jade toward the corner and run outside. My daddy's yelling, "Catherine!" and I don't look back at all. Not even a glimpse. I'm distraught that Jade doesn't follow.

Holding in tears because this is the bad part of town and Trina always has to tell me these dreadful stories about what will happen if I look vulnerable in LA, I sit on the curb between Jade's car and the beat-up Chevy adjacent.

The gang exits looking bewildered. "He left after you did. Didn't he follow you?" is all Jade tells me. I shake my head and swallow hard.

She's just as affectionate with me as normal, but I'm the one straining away now.

* * *

8 weeks, 2 days post G-T day.

"Are you mad at her?"

"Hm?" I look up from my script at Tori. "At who?"

"Angelina Jolie. No, of course I'm talking about Jade."

"Oh. I'm not mad."

She whacks me lightly upside the head. I glare at her, because that was really obviously rude! "She- and it's so weird saying this about Jade- looks pathetic. Is it about what happened at Maccas?"

"Why does everyone keep calling it Maccas?"

"Andre said that's how the Aussies say it. Everyone loves Australia."

"That's true," I agree, thinking of koalas and coral reefs. "But... yeah."

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I look back down at the script and pretend to be very focused.

"Ah ha! So there is something up!"

"Yes. Yes there is."

Tori sighs, exasperated. "Well you've got to live with the girl now. You can't be grudging forever."

I slam my script down. "Fine, you really want to know what's wrong! My dad was at Maccas, and Jade didn't do anything about it. Nothing. I didn't want to talk to him and she didn't follow me out like I wanted her too. She just watched or something."

"So, let me get this straight," Tori says slowly. "You're upset because Jade can't read your mind and didn't leave your food at the restaurant for you to starve?"

"What?"

"She was worried that everyone would forget about your chicken nuggets because you enjoy them so much. If I recall, she said she didn't trust any of us 'to handle your week-from-now performance fuel'."

"That's... nice. Really nice of her...!"

A laugh escapes from Tori. "Um, yeah. You guys are kind of the sickeningly saccharine couple of the year. It's kind of hard to imagine her as anything but thoughtful. But only towards you. Maybe she's nice to Beck sometimes when she's in a good mood, but yeah. "

"I better go find her!"

"Tell me about it. I have no idea where she is, though. Have fun!"


	19. Miscommunication

A/N It's getting too sappy in here.

Jade's POV

8 weeks, two days after.

Well, nobody decided to tell me that Cat was looking for me. Oh, miscommunication, how I loathe you. I spent the night in Beck's RV. On the floor, actually, but still. It probably wasn't the healthiest place to be. I told my parents it was a drama thing and they bought it, even if Cat wasn't involved.

"Fuck," I said, drawing out the vowel. Ensconced in the large blanket that Beck let me borrow, I probably looked like a small and sad creature.

"This is weird," Beck said.

"No shit, Shylock," I snapped.

He grinned. "Oh, hey, you made a funny."

"Yes. I don't lose my sense of humor when I feel like shit, you know." I rolled my eyes at him.

"The eye roll is that much less effective when your excessive eyeliner is dripping."

"Shut up!"

"Good night, Jade."

* * *

8 weeks, three days after

Sleeping on the floor was not fun, but I had wanted no part of Beck's bed. He kept really strange stuff between the sheets.

"Thanks," I said, handing him the blanket. "For being a friend."

"All you did was moan and look like a mopey ewok on my floor."

"I need to watch Star Wars with you again. Whenever we watched it before..."

"We were macking on the couch."

"Macking?"

He shrugged. "More of Andre's Aussie slang. Making out."

"Right. Yeah. We're having a movie marathon sometime, okay? Purely platonic. Just the two of us."

"That actually sounds fun."

I quirked a smile on one corner of my mouth. "You're still my best friend, you know."

"Mutual. And now that you're gay-"

"Don't even think about it."

"I was just going to say that we could compare taste in chicks now."

I took a step back. "Hey, no. That's just so much more awkward than I need right now. And I resent the use of 'chicks'. And I'm not gay! Maybe."

"Okay, Jade. Whatever you say. Let's go to rehearsal, then."

We walked to our vehicles. "Take your own car. I plan on taking my girl home without unwelcome guests."

"And that's why we're best friends."

* * *

"Jade! Jade!"

The one thing I hadn't been expecting was to be tackled as soon as I got out of my car. "Cat? What the-"

"I'm so so sorry that I was all mean and awful! You were awesome and nice and I'm so so sorry!" She was crying, and I really could do nothing more than pat her awkwardly on the back of the head.

"Hi, yeah, I accept your apology. Nice to see you too..."

"Where were you last night!"

"Um..." Beck had just walked over and I glanced at him for help.

"Uh... china store!"

Cat did a double take. "China store? But you hate antiques!"

"Right," I said. "It was their annual, you know, smash the stuff that doesn't get sold event. It, erm, benefited something or other."

"Oh. Okay."

I felt terrible about lying, but there was no way I could say, 'Oh, yeah, I slept at Beck's' without it getting awkward. She smiled and took me by the hand to drag me into Saturday rehearsal.

It was officially hell week, and we were stuck in the school for the whole day. Everyone brought more food than could be eaten by two casts and crews, so we were good on that front.

By the time lunch rolled around, I was getting a little sick of being around everyone. The knowledge I was stuck with Robbie and everyone until six in the afternoon was definitely present.

"I'm not going to-"

"No!" I said instinctively.

"S-sorry," Robbie meekly said, withdrawing.

I reconsidered. "Wait, what were you going to say?"

"For Cat. I'm not going to do anything."

"What?"

"You'd kill me if I did."

I snorted. "I see. Okay. So you get it now. Touch her, and-"

"I know the drill! I'm not stupid," he said with more will than I thought him capable of. "And don't shoot down that last statement, okay?"

"Fine. I don't like you, though."

"I don't expect you to. Just leave me alone, all right? I get enough weird stares now."

It only occurred to me then that Robbie probably got a lot of sass for what he did to Cat. I grumbled some sort of response to him and went back to my own private zone.

After lunch, we did another run through which was only somewhat dreadful. Everyone actually made it on stage for their cues that time. Sinjin did manage to mix up the lighting and sound systems (In hindsight, I must ask how the hell he runs both all alone?) and dimmed the mics instead of the lights during one softer scene. Of course I got pissed and yelled. Cat made me apologize, and I guess that I didn't regret that.

* * *

8 weeks, four days after

Sunday was an exhausting day. I lazed in bed until twelve until...

"Get up!" "Wake up!" "Come on!"

Screechy voices in my room were not appreciated. With closed eyes, I groaned, "Whaddayou want?"

Jewel grabbed my shoulders and tried shaking me awake. "You're so lazy! I wanna go the mall, and mom says you have to take me!"

"I love the mall!" said Cat.

"That's not helpful," snapped Jewel. "Not at all. Now grab her legs while I get her arms and-"

"Okay, I'm up!" I said, unwilling to be further double-teamed by my annoying sister and girlfriend.

"Did you shower last night?" asked Jewel.

"Yes," I said. "Why?"

"No reason."

"Um, okay... are you guys going to just stand there while I get changed or, well...?"

Cat raised her hand. "Oh! Me! Pick me!"

Jewel grabbed Cat's forearm. "Ooh, like no you're not. C'mon." With surprising force for an eighth grader, she dragged Cat out of the room.

I dressed hastily, unwilling to have my door banged on for slowness. Jewel and Cat we're on-the-go people and would not tolerate my delaying. I think I just put on some holey jeans and black T-shirt that might have belonged to Jewel and left.


	20. Ready

A/N Mrf. Almost there. have not liked my last few chapters at all.

Cat's POV

8 weeks, four days after G-T day!

I'm not going to buy anything, sure, but I love trying on clothes and laughing at the really strange outfits. The fashion world is really bizarre, and I can't believe some people can actually fit in some of these styles. I look down at my body and feel a tad self-conscious. Then my glance travels sidelong to Jade, who seems to see something she likes. Enthused, I smile at her and loop an arm about her waist. I'm certain to let my touch be known as my hand snakes around, and the dreamy expression coming over her face as we walk makes me feel better.

"Are you hungry? We didn't stop for food and I guess we kind of forgot to get you something before we left," I say as we walk.

The serene face is dashed away. "Where's Jewel?"

"Uh... That's a very good question. Didn't she, erm, see some friends or- yeah, she saw this one guy-"

"A guy," she repeats to herself. "And I bet she quote-on-quote "left" her cell phone at home, right?"

I frown. "She did mention something like that..."

"Good lord. Well we're going to-" she is interrupted by a loud sort of strangling noise.

Brow furrowed, I glance down towards her abdomen."Was that-?"

"Yes."

Untangling my arm about her, I start towards the food court. This does not quite work, as Jade is still somewhat attached to my arm. She lets out a snort of laughter and follows me to get some food.

* * *

8 weeks, five days after G-T day!

"So you lost your sister?" Beck says with laughing eyes.

"It was awful!" I say excitedly. "She was with some guy at the food court, and Jade threatened to kick the guy's arse if he didn't back off."

"He was eighteen," mumbles Jade. "She's _fourteen._"

"That is kind of nasty," Andre agrees. "So then what happened?"

I say, "He asked what an arse was and I explained. It was kind of funny, looking back. You know how stories go."

"No. No it was not funny," Jade insists.

"Oh, you'll see it eventually." Tori slaps Jade on the back affectionately. I winced, knowing this could not go well.

Gritting her teeth, Jade snarls, "Do not touch me."

Tori puts her hands up. "Okay, okay. Chill..."

Then we have to go to class and Jade's still kind of grumpy and frustrated. I hang back to figure out what's up.

"What's wrong?" I query, taking her hand.

"I want... It's just... I'm unsure of a lot of things."

"What? Is that supposed to mean something bad?"

"No. No!_ No. _You're fine. Perfect. Don't worry about it. I- We can talk later. Get to class." She frees her hand from mine and stalks off to her class.

* * *

8 weeks, six days after G-T day!

We haven't talked much since lunch yesterday. I feel weird about that.

I thought that I wouldn't get harassed anymore after Robbie, but I guess I was wrong. Maybe I hadn't noticed them before, but there were still whispers hanging about. I distinctly heard "dyke" and "going to hell". I'm human, just like they are. Why should I have names called about me for something so beautiful as loving? I could say mean things about people that I don't know well just based on appearance. Really. It would not make me feel any better to do it, but I could. There's no changing some people, especially if they don't care enough to change. I'm no preacher.

I broke down in the bathroom after school, but didn't want anyone like Jade to see me like this.

We've come so far and I love her so much that I don't want anybody to know that I haven't learned to deal with it. I'm supposed to be out and normal and happy. It's been too long to regress.

"What's wrong?" Jade asks as I come into the dressing room a few minutes late. She's sitting on a stool, busying herself with curling her hair.

"Just thinking about my parents," I lie suddenly.

"Okay," she says.

I don't know why, but I suddenly move to straddle her. She looks up at me and raises an eyebrow in confusion. Everyone's watching and there's a hot curling iron by my left shoulder. I can feel the heat, even if it's not touching me yet.

"Cat?"

"Mm-hm?" I say, tugging on one of her tightly-curled corkscrew curls. It sproings back into place, much to my amusement. She re-dyed her colored streaks back to brown just for the show and I actually really like it. That's silly to say, seeing as I have unrealistic red velvet cupcake hair. But I think she really does look good all dark in contrast to her pale skin.

I lean in and kiss her gently on the lips. Her look of confusion softens as I gently open my mouth and she mimics me. The room is dead silent and her free hand is fisting through my hair...

"Ow!"

She jerks the curling iron away and looks apologetic. "I'm so sorry. Let me..." After setting the iron aside, she takes my burn and kisses it. I blush and she smiles the slightest bit.

"Um, guys, do you really want to keep everyone here until 10:30?" Robbie asks nervously.

I hop off of her lap. "Sorry, Robbie. Let me go get changed..." I hurry to my rack outside the dressing room and get a hold of my first costume. The show's in two days and I need to be ready.

* * *

9 weeks after G-T day!

"It's our anniversary," she says to me that morning as we're both getting ready in the bathroom.

I nod, hunting for my toothbrush. "Nine weeks?"

"Yeah. I want to do something. We get out at five today and... um..."

"What?" I say, picking up the toothbrush I find under the tissue box.

"I want to..." Jade mumbles something. "Tonight."

Toothbrush nearing mouth, I glance at her. "I didn't catch that?"

She grips the hairbrush in her hands tightly. "I think I'm ready for, well, you know..."

My eyes widen and my heart swells. "_Tonight?_"

"Yes. I think so. My parents are taking Jewel out, since they've been promising to let her get Japanese food, and you know what happens with us and Japanese food."

I laugh, recalling our troubles with the wasabi and ordering. "But are you sure?"

"No. Of course I'm not."

"Okay," I reply, smile growing by the moment.


	21. Proximity

A/N I like this chapter a lot, actually. It's to be expected that you know what's coming, but the rating probably isn't going to need to go up, unless I fail at rating stories.

Jade's POV

9 weeks after, and I'm fucking nervous

Unlike the last show we did, Merchant of Venice had the main stage booked instead of the small theater. Apparently (by coincidence), many of the local high schools recently read the play or similar works by Shakespeare. The buzz got around, and apparently a lot of people were coming to this. Unfortunately, there was this ethnic festival planned right before opening night on Thursday, so Wednesday was our very last chance for dress rehearsal. We had time constraints too, as the whole stage needed to be cleared by five. School got out at 2:15, it took a good half an hour to get into costume, and the running time was about two hours. Therefore, there was no time to spare.

Everyone was rushing about, glossing over mistakes. The director would give us hastily-typed notes to study before the next day, so there was no stopping anything. I barely saw Cat besides the scene rushes. Those costumes were damn complicated and I lost track of one of my props for a while. We finished with twenty minutes to spare, so the techies started taking apart the stage while all of the actors changed quickly out of costume to try to catch the tail end of helping. In the end, we were five minutes late out of the theater, but we had gotten through the show without stops.

All the way home, I could feel Cat's hand lingering near my thigh. I nearly got in an accident at one point, but she did not realize the true reason for this. At least, I don't think she did.

"I should carry you up the stairs," Cat said dreamily upon entering the house.

"_No_," I told her vehemently. "You weigh less than me and it is not romantic to drop someone on the floor."

She pouted but gave in to logic after a careful two second's consideration. "Your room?"

"Yes," I replied, half-wishing that I had not considered the notion in the first place.

I followed her up the stairs and she opened the door. My breath caught as she started to undress to her undergarments. I saw that dark lacy bra and panties set, and was pleasantly surprised. "For you," she said, smiling.

I had not thought to go all out, and was just in my normal well-fitting nude-toned bra and simple purple bikini-styled bottoms. As I pulled down my pants, I looked up for Cat's reactions. Her lips pursed in a somewhat amused "o" shape. I ducked my head and finished removing the bottoms.

Stepping towards me, she said, "Allow me." Her hands moved down my torso to the hem of my shirt. She pulled the shirt over my head and I really just felt cold.

"You don't have to do this," she said to me, observing my discomfort.

"No, no. I want to. Just..." I looked towards the bed and forced a smile. She was so beautiful and sweet, but I was so afraid this was all going to go wrong somehow. What if it didn't feel right? What if it hurt? What if my parents came home?

Oh, lord. I moved towards my door and twisted the lock on the handle. "Okay. I'm ready."

Cat's smile intensified and she grabbed me by the hand and pulled me toward the bed. I let her do what she pleased, and found myself, sprawled on the bed with her hovering above me. Her hands were cold, and I actually shuddered when she touched me at first.

She captured my lips and we simply kissed for a while. It felt really nice, and I sort of hoped that it would continue forever. But then she pulled away and I forced myself to stay calm when she murmured, "I love you, Jade" in my ear before moving her hands slowly down my sides to a very specific location.

* * *

"It wasn't as bad as I thought I would be," I admitted, pulling back on my clothes.

"You didn't even bleed."

"Yeah. But you did. I'm going to need to clean those sheets..."

"I can help."

"Ah, no. That could look suspicious. I'll just say I had a messy period in a few days when it comes. Okay?"

"Okay." The awkward silence crept in as we finished dressing. "Thank you."

"'Thank you'? For what?"

Cat finished buttoning her skirt. "I know you were reluctant to do it, but I urged you to anyway. It... I wanted to so much. And it did feel good, being so close to you."

"I hurt you," I said, looking down at the offending index finger on my right hand.

She shrugged. "I knew it might. I liked it, though, a lot at the end. So thank you." Smiling gently, she moved to kiss me on the cheek. I averted this and caught her full on the mouth. She pressed into the kiss and it intensified until we heard a door slam below.

"Fuck," I said, pulling away.

"Just... cover the stain for a few days," she said quickly, dashing to cover the spot with my comforter.

I unlocked the door and cracked it slightly, so as not to look too suspicious. My parents always said that it was ridiculous to have a closed door inside an empty house.

"We didn't eat yet," Cat realized, pacing back and forth.

"It's okay," I told her, glancing wildly about for my clock. Apparently, I had momentarily forgotten its location. "Seven fifteen. Not bad. We'll say that there were snacks at rehearsal and we were planning on going down soon anyway."

"Okay!" she said, glad to know the plan. "We talked the whole time, played a game of Go Fish... The conversation was about narwhals."

I rolled my eyes and said dryly, "We don't even play Go Fish."

"Fine. We played Spit."

* * *

"Beck, I did it," I said monotonously.

"What? You did what?" he asked.

"_It._ With Cat. Just like an hour ago."

With a hint of amazement in his voice, he said, "Whoa. How'd she get Stone Cold Jade West to give in?"

I had the sudden urge to twirl a phone cord around my finger like in those older TV shows, but was using a cell. So instead, I hooked a finger in my hair and twirled. I only succeeded in making a knot that I would pick at for the duration of the conversation. "I have no idea. Well, no. That's not quite true. There's something about the way she looks at me and makes me feel... Did you ever get around to with Tori?" I hated myself for asking that question.

"Nah. Actually, I'm thinking about breaking up with her."

"Do tell, Mister Oliver. I love details," I said, affecting an upper-crust British accent.

"We're just not working," he said almost nonchalantly. "Don't really click. Yeah, she's attractive, but something's not right. I think she feels the same. Good friend, really hot, not quite right."

"Deja vu?" I suggested.

"I said 'hot', Jade."

I snorted. "If you were here, I would smack you, you know."

"Why, yes. I do know that. What, you don't think I would take advantage of the proximity distance a phone call provides?"

"It's a good thing there's an understudy for Shylock, Beck. You just wait 'til tomorrow."

He laughed. "Okay, okay. I get it. So everything went all right with Cat?"

"Mm-hm," I replied, distracted a little by my finger deciding to get stuck in the knot. "Not sure if I want to do it again anytime soon, but it wasn't bad."

"Good. Don't want you getting hurt or freaked or anything."

I heard noises outside my door and lowered my volume a tad. "Think my mom's coming. Gotta go. See you tomorrow."

"Right," he said before I heard the barely-audible click that notified me that Beck had hung up.


	22. Best Interests

A/N This isn't the last chapter, but we're nearly there. Thanks for sticking with this, guys.

Cat's POV

9 weeks, 1 day post G-T day!

Opening night. Omigod yay! I'm kind of on an emotional high after last night. I want to do it again, but Jade still probably feels weird about it. I can wait, though. I'm still remembering how good yesterday felt. She was so scared it was going to hurt me, even if I didn't hurt her at all. The look on her face, though, when she first started on me, was so pained. She was probably more hurt than I was.

I don't think I should ask her about having sex again for a while. She has not distanced herself from me or anything, but I know she still has mixed feelings about the experience.

I feel daring. I can go out on stage and do anything. Now that I've crossed over one hurtle, I'm nigh invincible.

When I go to school the next day, I want to tell someone. But nobody seems right to tell. So I don't. It's my moment with Jade, and I guess there's no real need to share it with anyone.

Robbie's peering through the curtains half an hour before the show starts. I slap him gently on the cheek and say, "That's not professional at all! You can't let the audience see you before your entrance!"

"Ow," he whines, even though I barely touched him. "I'm just looking for my Mamaw..."

"Oh, gosh, Robbie. She's so _mean_ and _sour_. I can't believe you can deal with her!"

"Well, she's family! I mean, she has my best interests in mind."

I smile, but there's definitely a strain there. "Okay. Just find her after the show and after your out of make-up. Can't be ruining the magic of theater."

"Cat, the theater isn't magical..."

"Of course it is!" I insist. "You'll see one day. Kay kay?"

"...Kay kay?"

Satisfied, I skip off to put the finishing touches on my wig. My hair keeps poking out on the sides and everyone thinks it's haha hilarious. I hear a voice in my ear, saying, "Hey, babe."

I jump up a little. "Jade! Wha- I don't like pet names. They're generic and not me."

"Hm? Okay," she says, glancing at the mirror.

Clutching her hand, I look up at her. "Kiss me? Please? Just once?"

"Ugh, but I have nasty stage make-up on, and I really don't want to have to redo-"

"Please?" I press, holding her hand tighter.

She rolled her eyes. "All right. But don't go wild on me. This cheap lipstick is making my lips swell, and I don't want other parts of my face affected."

"Okay," I say, giggling.

Appearing a little flustered, Jade kneels down beside my stool. I pull her towards me and gently kiss her. She was right; her lips were pretty swollen. As amusing as it is when I nip her lips enough to fullness, this can't be good. I almost forget to glean some sort of support from this kiss before pulling away.

"A broken leg."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"I wish you a broken leg! You're suspicious in the theater, right? I'm being careful!"

"Oh, okay," I say, very relieved.

* * *

The curtain is pulled closed by the kids on fly. I'm flushed from that last burst of adrenaline. It all went extremely well, in my opinion. We only lost one actor during the show, and it was okay. One of the boys got Robbie out of the jammed bathroom door in time for his scene. The curtain opens again to an empty stage. It is immediately occupied when the extras all move to take their bows, followed progressively by more significant parts.

As Beck finishes his bow, I step forward to take mine. Traditionally, Shylock is the role of most interest, but I clearly had the most lines, so my bow- well, curtsy in these skirts- is last. The main players of the show line up in front of the rest of the cast. Jade somehow wedges her way in next to me. The two of us share a look before the whole cast bows and recognizes the instrumentalists and techies.

The curtain is closed again, and the cast seemingly erupts in a unanimous cheer. I find myself joining them, probably the loudest of all. Jade has this warm and serene expression, so I pull her close and kiss her. Somebody cheers, but I don't give care.

She pulls us apart and mumbles something about going home for sleep. I tell Jade a bunch of things as we change. Mostly it's about all of the crazy things that she didn't notice that went on during the scenes, like when the guy playing Antonio- Eli- flubbed the very first line as I watched back stage. Honestly, "In sooth I know not why I am so sad" is the most fun line to say in the show. How do you mess up the beautiful flow of iambic pentameter? Who eliminates the "not"?

I wipe off most of my make-up, but don't do such a great job getting the base covering my face off. There's still traces along my jawline, but nobody should notice, really. Jade does the same, revealing temptingly swollen lips that I have to resist the urge to nip larger.

We're laughing and smiling- well, mostly me- as we go to meet her family outside of the auditorium. I never get that far.

"Catherine!"

Nobody calls me that except- Oh no. Oh, God no. It's my daddy. Emmett.

I try to ignore him, but he's in front of me before I can do anything. He thrusts a package towards me, and I can't _not_ accept because he's so darn forceful.

"Catherine, I can't begin to tell you how apologetic I am about this."

"About what?" I say, tone less than excited.

"Your mother turning you out of the house. I've been trying to contact you, but was unsure of where you were staying. When I asked your mother, she said something about a Jane, but there are no Janes at your school. She was insistent it was a Jane."

Jade had realized by this point that I had not been following her. "Cat, we've got to- _Oh._"

"Daddy, this is _Jade_. I'm sure _Marlee_ told you about her," I say, leaning my head defiantly into the space between Jade's neck and head. She wraps an arm around my waist, and I can't help but feel protected.

"I understand," he says, appearing slightly uncomfortable.

"I don't know what you want me to say or do, but-" My voice cracks. "I love her and she makes me feel happier than I c-could be with Marlee, all suppressed and unhappy."

"I'm not mad at you, Catherine."

"Cat, Daddy. Call me Cat."

He smiles sadly. "You never told me that before. I always thought that was your nickname with friends. Now, open that box. It's not much, but you always said... Well, you'll see."

Jade takes the box from me, as I'm slow to move. She undos the ribbon and gestures for me to take off the top.

"It's a cupcake," I say, slightly baffled.

A gentle smile curls onto Jade's face. "A red velvet cupcake."

My Daddy nods. "When you were younger, you loved them so much. I used to take you out, just the two of us, and that's what you always wanted at the bakery. And your smile was so light and free. I haven't seen you smile in her house in so long. I hadn't thought you still loved them until I caught a glimpse of a box in your room a couple months ago."

Sight disappears for a second as I move forward to give my dad a hug. "Th- thank you for coming. I love you, Daddy."

He makes a happy little humming noise. "It's been so long since you called me that."

I press into his chest, since he's over a head taller than me. "I don't want to come back home with you if Marlee's there."

"She's your mother, Cather- Cat."

"If she's not going to treat me like she loves me, I can't go back. Sh- she hates me. She never kicked out Charlie, and he's done worse than fall in love."

I can hear familiar voices coming closer. The crowd has been steadily clearing with kids and parents leaving in staggered groups, but one family is definitely still around.

"Jade, Cat, where have you- What's this? Oh, Lorelai..."

"Who's this?"

"It's Cat's father."

I step back and sniffle. "Mrs. and Mr. Jade's mom and dad, it's okay. He's not like my mother. He loves me. But I don't want to go home with him."

"You can still stay with us, sweetie," Jade's mom says, watching Jewel to insure she doesn't wander off and get into trouble. Things like that seem to happen a lot.

"If it is all right with you, I'd like to still spend time with Cat. And of course I'll pay for her expenditures. It's my responsibility as a parent to care for her and love her, even if circumstances would prevent her from living in a happy household. My wife is unwilling to budge on the matter, so I agree this might be the best arrangement." He ducks his head apologetically.

Jewel whines, "Can we at least have her sleep in Jade's room or on the couch or something? I want my room back."

"We'll see if we can clear out the basement or something," says Jade's dad.

"Mr. Valentine, sir, if I may..." Jade steps forward and looks straight up at my dad. "You know your daughter loves me, and I her. She's one of the most wonderful people I have known, and I want you to know that I will have her best interests in mind. I just want to say that it all may seem strange to you, no matter how accepting you are, but I will do my best to make her happy. Lord knows my family seem to love her more than me already. So I thank you."

My daddy nods. "It's nice to finally meet you, Jade. My wife speaks so ill of you, that it was hard to imagine such a well-mannered and intelligent young woman was responsible for stealing my little girl's heart away."

Jade takes my hand and says confidently, "You don't know me very well, sir, but I hope you have the opportunity to possibly revise that statement."

"It's getting late," says Jewel warningly. "I'm _never _going to get my homework done if we don't leave now."

Chuckling, my daddy pulls both me and Jade into a hug. "You were both wonderful. I can tell you exactly how much so later. There will be time. Good-bye." He pulls away and turns toward the door. We all watch him go.

"Do you want me to fail school or not, Mom?"


	23. The Big Things and the Little Things

A/N Theater term notes: Strike is when the set is taken apart. Spike tape is the colorful tape seen on stage so that the set crew always places the set pieces in the correct places for each scene. Imagine how awful it would be to walk backwards in a scene and expect to sit in a chair that was not there. Gaff tape is amazingly sticky and useful tape that techies (and actors) love. Have you ever seen the wires to a theater's sound system criss-crossing the floor and covered in black tape? That's gaff tape. Fly is where all of the pulleys and ropes to move the curtains, scrims, and scenery are. If anything looks like it is hanging from the ceiling, the kids on fly are probably responsible.

Jade's POV

9 weeks, 5 days after she gave me that first cupcake

"Get that goddamn puppet away from me, Robbie!" I screamed at the boy with the ridiculous jewfro.

"That's a derogatory term!" defended Robbie, clutching that idiotic toy.

"You know the rules, dweeb. The puppet stays out of the theater," I insisted, pointing a finger at Rex. "And that's especially when he insults my girlfriend's taste!"

"I just said she could do better," Rex quipped.

I laughed without mirth. "And you're the one who kept reminding her of her lack of prom invitation. Robbie, if that hunk of junk isn't out of here in five seconds-"

"I'm going, I'm going!" And we went.

Turning to an uncomfortable-looking Cat, I said, "He's still got a hard on for you. Robbie, I mean. We were supposed to have reconciled, but he uses that effing puppet so he can say what he wants."

She peeled a piece of spike tape off of the stage that she had been picking at for the last minute and a half. Adding it to her growing ball of tape, she said, "It's okay, Jade. I like it that you're concerned, but I can take care of myself. Daddy slipped me some money to get pepper spray at the convenience store next door while you were in the bathroom yesterday..."

I raised an eyebrow. "And the two of you did not see it fit to tell me this because...?"

"...You're awfully overprotective? You yelled at the waiter for smiling while taking my order. Honestly, are you all right?"

It seemed fitting to try to soften my expression. The results were somewhat successful. "What do you mean?"

She looked down at her feet and played nervously with her hands. "Well, lately you've been kinda, you know, overtly concerned for my well-being."

"I promised your dad that I would protect you."

"No, you said you would do your best to make me happy," she corrected, crossing her arms. "I'm not going to flirt back with every guy. Although I probably won't flirt with any guy, seeing as I'm gay. If I did flirt with a guy, that would probably be bad, wouldn't it? Don't you-"

"I get it. Okay. I'll chill. I just... It would kill me if you got hurt." I tested the drill in my hand to see if the battery was still fresh enough.

"Ooh! Gaff tape!" Cat exclaimed upon sighting some of the sticky tape on a set piece. "Um, sorry. Right. Can we just finish strike and then talk?"

"Okay," I replied, jamming my drill into a nearby screw. With the drill on reverse setting, I loosened the screw out of its hole.

* * *

After the show's set had been fully taken apart, many of the costumes returned to the other school we rented them from, and the props and costumes that Hollywood Arts owned placed in storage, the stage feels empty. Most of the other members of the cast and crew have vacated the stage. One guy is up in fly sleeping, but he is always up there sleeping. After scanning the area for others, I stepto the front of the dimly-lit stage and sat on the edge. Dangling my feet over the edge, I recall how much time I really spend in this school for the sake of performance. It is what I do; ever since childhood, I have always been the girl who wanted to be the best and had the desire to prove it.

Beck is a serious actor. He takes the rehearsal process quite seriously, and I had always admired that in him. Somehow, in spite of her silliness, Cat is an even more dedicated actor than Beck. Maybe her skills are more naturally inclined to vocals, but she was damn successful on a Shakespearean show that demanded no singing on her part, and she still pulled it off.

I don't think I can imagine dating someone who is not a performer.

But then, I feel that what Cat means to me is more than a girlfriend. She's gotten into elegiac love poetry lately (As in Friday), and has taken to reciting Ovid to me before bedtime. Although she may claim to be so pure and light-hearted, she's horribly dirty-minded when she sets her heart to it. Even I feel the desire to blush when she expresses the virtues of the object of the speaker's affection in "Love in the Afternoon"_. _And it's a dreadfully dirty poem, but she can make it touching and sweet.

_"...But why go into details? Each point deserved its praise._  
_I clasped her naked body close to mine._  
_You can fill in the rest. We both lay there, worn out._  
_May all my afternoons turn out this well."_

And she would follow up with something of her own invention, and I can tell, because she gets this sultry look in her eyes. The rhythm and meter are abandoned altogether in favor of straightforward passion, "Your mind, body, and soul, I worship. I love you for your beauty, your acceptance, your love." And she'll lean over me and kiss me and I'm kissing her back, running my hands down her sides.

She says she plans to ravish me in this very auditorium one day. I hope she does not mean now. The guy in fly is still up there. Even though the lights are rather dim, a person can see quite a lot in this place. The acoustics are quite amplified, as well.

I feel her breath next to me before she speaks, although I did not hear her walk in. She is beside me and kicking her legs back and forth over the edge of the stage rather like a child.

"You're surprisingly vulnerable, you know."

"Hm?" I hum airily.

"Everyone always thought it _so_ weird that you played the meek girl with home problems. I love your vulnerability."

I glance at her and stated, "I'm not weak."

"Never weak," she agrees. "But vulnerable? Yes. Sometimes I feel like you're trying to compensate for something, but you're so open when you're with me, it feels like neither of us really is the rock."

"To be honest, I'm not sure what you're talking about. What rock?"

Cat grins. "The rock is what one clings to in times of trouble. With my mother and everything, maybe I am more like Jessica than you, given the situation."

"You were there for me after Beck... and other times."

"Yup." She pauses, and it looks like she's staring at my lips. "I think I want to kiss you."

"I think you're not going to get any action here," I reply, rolling my eyes. "We're not having sex in our school's auditorium. We're not having sex for a while, really."

"I just want to kiss you," she says, batting her eyelashes coyly.

I groan. "I hate it when you tease."

Inching closer to me, she smirks and chews on the corner of her lip. "So?"

"It's five-thirty and I'm hungry, but I guess so. Only for you, though." She's allowed to tease me like this because she's my Cat and I love the way she stirs feelings in me I didn't think existed.

Impatiently, she pulls me close and presses her lips to mine. Giggling a little, she puts her arms around me and gets tangled in my hair. It's so thick, that I've learned not to touch it too much, but Cat just _loves_ messing it up, as if to mark that she did it. Two can play at this game, so I sightlessly place my hands on her hips and move them up so they're under shirt. She moans at the skin to skin sensation and I push for dominance with my tongue. I do win, and she's making these cute noises in the back of her throat.

"Ugh, is anybody in here?" a loudly carrying voice calls out.

I pull away from Cat, slightly embarrassed. She doesn't seem too affected by the situation, and simply says, "Nope!"

"Okay! I'm just going to go look for my bag, then," Trina says, going to do what she says.

Cat snickers, so I cover her mouth and motion for us to exit through the stage right back doors. She agrees and we sneak out.

As we make into the hallway, we're both laughing and holding each other. "I couldn't believe her face!" she chokes out.

"You would have done the same exact thing," I chastise, prodding her in the ribs.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you're ridiculously naive and vulnerable. More-so than me. Hmph."

Pulling away, she crosses her arms. "Oh, so that's what it's about?"

"Yes. No. I'm just playing with you. Now c'mere." I pull her back into a hug. "Nobody's allowed to give you shit but me, all right?"

"Okay," she sighs happily. After a nice quiet moment, she says, "We really shouldn't sweat the small stuff."

"What?"

"There's stuff that's a big deal, like my mom being horribly judgmental or Beck breaking your bond. And then there's the little things, like Robbie occasionally flirting with me, or you, you know, having to having to work with people we don't really like."

"Well so what?" I ask, even though I'm starting to see what I probably should have all along.

"I guess it's just not worth making a big fuss over the small stuff when there are awful things to worry about."

I frown. "What else are you getting at?"

She nuzzles into my neck. "Well, I don't want us to fight so much... The sex thing is a big deal for you, and it's kind of a big deal for me. 'Cause I want it and like it, but it does seem like there's baggage that comes with. So we'll think about that, talk about that. But like, I don't want us to get all worked up about the little things and break up. I like living with you..."

"Oh, so you just want to place to stay?"

"I only like it because you're there. I have gay uncles in LA, actually. It wasn't in the realm of impossibility, in my mind, that if anything went wrong I could go there. It just was not a happy choice, and I kinda didn't want to out myself until it was for good reason. Like love."

"I adore you," I say, pressing closer into her.

"And that's all I've ever needed from you," she replies. "I think it's safe to say I'm madly in love with you, Jade... Now, can we go home and make some cupcakes?"

I smile, and it's really a smile this time. "If it's what you want."

* * *

Final A/N: Gawd, I feel all sappy now that I've ended this whirlwind of angst, fluff and a tinge of insanity. Some of the things that I tended to stress in this story were the juxtaposition between the two main girls in perception and motivation, how the things that we love extend our love for people, the bonds of friendship (between Beck and Jade, along with some Cat and Tori, and especially Cat and Tori. Friends before lovers), the theatrical world and how it affects individuals, and really what love means. I hope everyone who read this enjoyed it. I'm not sure what I'll write next, but I'd love some constructive criticism so it can be better. Thanks for sticking with this story, all!


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